(Bloomberg) — Hedge fund chief Crispin Odey allegedly assaulted one woman at a gathering just months after he was acquitted in 2021 of sexual assault, according to a string of new legal filings made public by a London court.
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Odey is accused of groping the woman at his mansion, where he had invited her along with others for a shooting party, according to the allegations. Odey said in defense papers that he touched the woman, saying that the pair were “tipsy,” but insisted that all contact was entirely consensual.
The allegations are among the most detailed to be made public in a London lawsuit, with five women alleging in court there was a consistent “pattern of behavior” with Odey asserting himself over women over a period of almost three decades. In response to previous allegations, lawyers for Odey said he “strenuously disputed” the claims.
The alleged abuse took place in late 2021, months after Odey walked free from court over a criminal allegation of assault. The woman said that she suffered physical pain, “exacerbated by feelings of embarrassment, shame, dirtiness and confusion.”
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 in the weeks following the investigation, forcing the company to shut funds and suspend several others.
As part of the shooting party allegations the woman, who said she was introduced to Odey by a mutual friend, alleged that Odey grabbed her after dinner and groped her.
“The claimant was horrified, shocked, distressed and surprised by this sudden assault. She pushed herself off him and said “Crispin what are you doing?” and made it absolutely clear that such sexual contact was an assault and he should stop,” her lawyers said in the filings.
He failed to stop and continued the assault until she managed to push him away. Her lawyers said that when she confronted him in August the following year, that Odey acknowledged that he had “made a pass at her and been too forceful.”
The hedge fund manager “did not appear to be genuinely remorseful about his actions, characterizing them as a mere misread of her signals,” her lawyers said.
Odey’s lawyers said that the sexual contact between the two was consensual and that when she said “no” that matters “ceased immediately between them.” He said the next morning that he hosted the shoot for all his guests including the woman. “It was an unremarkable day.”
His lawyers said in the defense filings that after the woman confronted Odey, that he eventually paid £35,000 to a charity that she was involved with to end the matter without any further action. They denied that he’d admitted to being “too forceful.”
Odey declined to comment when reached by phone. Lawyers for Odey didn’t respond to requests for further comment.
“The allegations span very many years both before and after the criminal prosecution. This is not going to stop,” the claimant’s lawyer, Jill Greenfield at Fieldfisher, said in a statement.
An earlier version of the headline online misspelled Crispin Odey’s first name.
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