Disgraced hedge fund manager Crispin Odey was a ‘sex pest’ and a ‘sociopath’ who found it hard to control himself according to a former executive at his firm, a court has heard.
The comments from Tim Pearey, who was chief executive of Odey Asset Management, were revealed as Odey appealed against a £1.8m fine and ban imposed by the City watchdog.
A tribunal hearing the case was also told that there was a ‘prolific’ culture of sexual harassment at the firm which was seen as ‘part of the deal’ of working there.
Odey was said to have groped a female staff member’s breasts – later blaming a ‘dental sedative’ he had taken earlier in the day.
The court heard that he responded to internal disciplinary procedures by accusing a colleague of being ‘f***ing spineless’ and threatening to shut down the whole firm.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its penalty against Odey last year in relation to his attempts to frustrate those procedures – by sacking members of the executive committee charged with overseeing his conduct.
Odey – pictured in 2021 – is appealing against a fine and ban by the FCA
Once one of Britain’s most prominent financiers, Odey’s firm imploded after the Financial Times published allegations in 2023 of sexual harassment or misconduct against him, which he denies.
The FCA case centres on earlier events.
An internal report in 2021 by law firm Simmons and Simmons identified 46 ‘historical allegations’ about him between 2003 and 2020.
It suggested that Mr Odey had ‘persistently and for years exhibited inappropriate sexualised behaviour towards female members of staff to the discomfort and on occasion worse of some of them’, the court heard.
In a discussion of the allegations, it was said that his behaviour was ‘not a Weinstein situation’ but ‘might be likened to that of Ray Kelvin the former CEO of Ted Baker’.
The details were set out by Clare Sibson KC, representing the FCA, on the first day of a hearing at the Upper Tribunal in central London.
She cited comments from Mr Pearey, who said: ‘I think he is a sex pest I am afraid. I think he has got a real problem. I think he finds it hard to control himself actually. I just find it inconceivable that he could behave in such a way… given everything he potentially stands to lose.’
Sibson also cited the evidence of a staff member who said that Odey gave her a shoulder massage and that then ‘both hands went down from her shoulders and Mr Odey groped both of her breasts’.
She screamed and he backed off and said sorry, according to the testimony.
The staff member had ‘heard of it happening to others’ but that she had avoided it and that she ‘did not want to make too much drama as she wanted to stay employed’.
She ‘referred to there being a culture of fairly prolific sexual harassment at the time which was part of the deal of working at OAM’.
When asked about her claims, Odey ‘admitted that he undoubtedly did’ what the staff member said he had done, the court was told.
‘He said to the authorities that this was due to a dental sedative he had been given earlier that day,’ Sibson said.
During a subsequent disciplinary process, Odey ‘said that the only relevant question for Exco was his fitness and propriety to manage money and that HR did not matter here at OAM’.
Sibson said his conduct ‘amounted to the abrogation of Mr Odey’s duty to act with integrity’.
In a document submitted to the court outlining his appeal against the FCA’s punishment, Odey’s barrister Alasdair Williamson KC said: ‘Mr Odey maintains that the actions which he took in his capacity as majority owner were ones that he was fully entitled to take.’
The hearing continues.