Former fund manager Crispin Odey was described by the head of his hedge fund as a “sex pest”, a tribunal has heard on the first day of a lawsuit Odey brought against the FCA over disciplinary action taken against him.
The FCA fined Odey £1.8m and banned him from the industry last year for his “lack of integrity” in attempting to impede an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, which began in 2020. Odey denies the allegations.
Lawyers for Odey told London’s upper tribunal on Tuesday (10 March) the FCA had “pre-judged” the outcome of its investigation into him and that he had been seeking to save his business, rather than protect his own position, The Guardian reports.
In his own opening submission to the court, Odey highlighted witness statements given to the regulator by former Odey Asset Management (OAM) chief executive Tim Pearey, emphasising Odey’s “brutal honesty”.
The FCA’s lawyers countered Pearey also said Odey had proved to be a “sex pest” and a “sociopath”. They also said Odey had “repeatedly violated ethical norms”, breaching rules by using his power as majority shareholder to obstruct the investigation into his conduct in order to protect himself.
Odey’s case against the watchdog previously led to the disclosure that an internal report on his conduct uncovered at least 46 historical allegations of inappropriate conduct towards female employees.
Odey also launched a libel claim against the Financial Times for publishing an investigation into claims about his treatment of female employees, which prompted the closing down of OAM. Five women are also pursuing civil personal injury claims against Odey with the joint proceedings scheduled for June.
The hearing continues.
