The Financial Times has dismissed a libel claim against it by disgraced hedge fund manager Crispin Odey as not being “serious”, the High Court was told last week.
Odey is suing the FT for approximately £79m in damages relating to four articles published in 2023 that alleged he had sexually assaulted several women, which he denies. Odey quit his role at his hedge fund, Odey Asset Management, days after the articles were published. The libel claim was launched in May 2024.
At a preliminary hearing on 18 July, the FT’s barrister Gavin Millar KC said: “We remain unconvinced that Mr Odey’s libel claim is a serious one,” the Independent reports.
Adam Speker KC, representing Odey in the libel claim, said the allegations were of a “gravely defamatory nature” which had caused “very serious harm to his reputation” and “serious distress and embarrassment”.
Odey is also defending a separate legal action brought against him by five women over alleged misconduct between 1995 and 2023, including one who has accused him of rape.
The hearing last week was to ascertain which of the two claims should go to trial first, but Justice Heather Williams suggested both claims should be addressed in one trial.
