Odey was ‘trying to manipulate this victim into silence’ and had ‘very good reason to discourage’ her from providing her account to the FCA, the authority’s lawyer said. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesOdey was ‘trying to manipulate this victim into silence’ and had ‘very good reason to discourage’ her from providing her account to the FCA, the authority’s lawyer said. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesCrispin Odey tried to ‘manipulate’ sexual assault victim, FCA tells courtFormer hedge fund manager warned ex-employee he had groped that Financial Conduct Authority may question her
The financial watchdog has accused the former hedge fund manager Crispin Odey of attempting to “manipulate” a victim of sexual assault into silence.
Odey texted his former employee, whose breasts he had groped, a warning in 2022 that the Financial Conduct Authority could question her about him.
He said the regulator was “using” her to further its “vendetta” against him and his hedge fund, Odey Asset Management (OAM).
The 67-year-old has previously accepted that he groped the woman without her consent in 2005, which he said happened while he was under the influence of sedatives after a root canal treatment.
Odey, who faces a number of sexual harassment allegations, sent the woman a text in January 2022 saying the regulator would use her “to show that there were no controls and you were in fear of my position in the company which stopped you from speaking out”, according to evidence provided by the FCA at a court hearing on Wednesday.
“I’m truly sorry for embarrassing you so long ago but I do not think that it is reason enough to close down OAM and call me unfit and improper,” he wrote in the text, signing off as “Cx”.
Clare Sibson, the FCA’s lawyer, said the former employee had left the firm in 2015 and may not have been aware of the regulator’s interest in her until Odey’s text.
She asked Odey during his cross-examination: “Can you imagine what it might feel like for the victim of an historic sexual assault to be told by her assailant that a statutory authority was investigating the man who victimised her?”
She added that Odey had been “trying to manipulate this victim into silence” and had “very good reason to discourage” her from providing her account to the FCA.
Odey said he had wanted to make sure the woman would “tell the truth”. He was appearing as part of a three-week court case that he hopes will overturn the City regulator’s decision to ban him from the UK’s financial services industry.
“This was a very serious incident, but it was looked at and it was judged, and it was clear to her, and she stayed for another eight years, and she was a friend of the firm,” he said.
“I was merely saying to her … I’m giving you a warning that you may be approached, because I don’t know how broad or wide the investigation is.”
Odey said in his witness statement that believed he became “a poster boy for the authority’s agenda” and was the victim of “a campaign by the authority to achieve my removal”.
The FCA has claimed he showed a “lack of integrity” by deliberately attempting to frustrate an investigation by his own hedge fund into allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies.
Odey has since launched a £79m libel lawsuit against the Financial Times, saying he suffered “very significant financial loss” because of articles alleging he had sexually assaulted or harassed multiple women. The allegations, which emerged in the media in summer 2023, eventually led to him being removed from OAM, which announced plans to close in October that year.
Odey is also facing civil personal injury claims by five women, including one who accused him of rape, which he also denies. Those cases are scheduled to be heard together in joint proceedings in June.
The hearing continues.
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