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Odey Asset Management is to close five months after allegations of sexual assault and harassment against its founder Crispin Odey plunged one of London’s oldest hedge fund groups into crisis.
“Odey Asset Management, including Brook Asset Management and Odey Wealth, will be closing. Fund Managers and Funds have moved to new Asset Managers,” the company announced on its website on Tuesday.
The firm has been engulfed in crisis since a Financial Times investigation in June reported allegations of sexual assault and harassment from 13 women against Odey.
Key banking partners quickly severed ties with the group and investors sought to pull their money, forcing Odey to suspend certain funds and shut others. Founded in 1991, the group managed $13.3bn in assets at its peak and still ran $3.8bn last year.
While the firm’s partners ousted Odey from the business, the company has failed to distance itself from its founder. Key fund managers, including James Hanbury and Jamie Grimston, have joined rivals and the group left its longstanding Mayfair office in August.
Following the FT investigation, seven further women then came forward with similar allegations, bringing the total number to 20. Of those, 12 were former employees of the firm.
Odey strenuously denied the first set of allegations and did not respond to a request for comment regarding the next six women’s accusations. When the 20th woman came forward to the FT with her account last month, Odey admitted for the first time an incident of misconduct. He said he “did grab her breasts” but said the incident was an “aberration” and blamed it on an anaesthetic he had been given that day at the dentist.
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