Three More Women Join Crispen Odey Sexual Misconduct Suit *Centurion Insurance AFS*

Three more women have asked to join a sexual misconduct lawsuit against hedge fund manager Crispin Odey and his eponymous former firm.

The alleged victims of sexual harassment by Odey applied at a London court to join two others who filed the suit last year in the wake of the scandal that unraveled his empire and saw him kicked out of his own firm. Odey’s lawyers opposed the request for a joint claim at a hearing on Thursday.

The new claimants “allege that they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Odey on various dates between about 1995 and 2023,” their lawyers said. “All three new claimants seek to bring claims against Odey personally.”

A call to Odey, who denies all the allegations, and an email to the firm’s spokesperson weren’t answered. The claims do not raise any common issues and must be decided on a case-by-case basis, Odey’s lawyers said in court filings. “They relate to alleged assaults on vastly different dates in completely different circumstances.”

Odey Asset Management was plunged into turmoil last year after the Financial Times published multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault by Odey, who founded the firm in 1991 and earned a reputation for making contrarian bets that put him among some of Britain’s richest hedge fund investors.

Several banks cut ties with his firm and investors raced for the exits, forcing the company to shut funds and suspend several others.

Having kept a low public profile since the allegations resurfaced months ago a recent company filing suggests Odey could be planning something of a comeback in finance.

Joining the claims will “create more problems than it purports to solve,” lawyers for Odey’s former firm said. Each new claim arising out of the alleged conduct of Odey should be commenced by separate proceedings, they said.

Lawyers at Fieldfisher, the law firm representing the claimants, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Photograph: Crispin Odey, founding partner of Odey Asset Management LLP in London, UK, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. Photo credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

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