Odey firm to be broken up after harassment claims against its founder

Crispin Odey has been ousted from the hedge fund he founded

Hedge fund giant Odey Asset Management (OAM) will be broken up, days after allegations of sexual harassment against its founder emerged.

The business said it would be dismantled and its activities will be transferred to other firms.

"Acting in the best interest of our investors and our staff has continued to be our primary concern over the past few days," said OAM.

Crispin Odey, who set up the firm in 1991, denies the claims against him.

He was ousted from the fund management business at the weekend.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that multiple women had accused Mr Odey of misconduct over 25 years, with the latest alleged incident taking place in December 2021.

The prominent financier, who was a major Brexit supporter and Conservative party donor, told the Guardian newspaper that the allegations against him were either untrue or involved consensual relations.

He also said that "none of the allegations have been stood up in a courtroom or an investigation".

Since the reports, OAM has struggled to rebuild trust with investors and a number of major banks are understood to have cut ties with the firm.

On Thursday, OAM said it was now "in advanced discussions for rehousing funds and transferring certain fund management activities and individuals to other asset managers".

The break-up will affect the majority of the $4.4bn (£3.5bn) in assets managed by OAM.

Another $600m of investor money is still held in funds formerly run by Mr Odey. It is unclear what will happen to those investments. Mr Odey also has around $600m of his own money invested in the firm.

One of those funds, the Odey Swan Fund, is already being liquidated after investors began to withdraw money.

The financier is well known in the City for having made large sums of money betting against the UK pound and British government bonds in recent years.

In 2020, Mr Odey was accused of assaulting a female investment banker at his London home in 1998, but was cleared of indecent assault after a trial.

Following the case, his company reportedly undertook an internal investigation into the financier's behaviour and handed its findings to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City watchdog.

OAM told the regulator at the time that it had decided to keep Mr Odey on as chief executive after giving him a "final written warning" for inappropriate behaviour.

However, on Wednesday, MPs on the Treasury Committee wrote to the FCA asking whether it had been proactive enough in its oversight of the fund.

It followed reports that the watchdog had been investigating the company since 2021.

The FCA has been asked to reveal what it knew about the claims against Mr Odey and what action it took, going back five years.

The MPs have given it until 5 July to respond.

A spokesperson for the FCA said: "We understand the Treasury Committee's interest in this and we'll of course reply shortly."