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Odey Asset Management’s wealth business will close and return assets to clients, months after founder Crispin Odey was accused of sexual misconduct.
The wealth operations in Guernsey and the UK are set to close, people familiar with the matter said.
UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority said of the closure: “We are aware that Odey Wealth Management intends to close the business. We will work closely with the firm in the event of its collapse to ensure clients are treated fairly.” Crispin Odey and Odey Asset Management declined to comment.
The decision to shut down the company came after the Financial Times published an investigation in June that included detailed allegations of sexual assault and harassment against 13 women by the company’s eponymous founder.
The allegations triggered a turbulent period for the hedge fund group, prompting it to suspend or close some funds and vacate its long-standing offices in Mayfair. Within days of the findings, Odey was fired from the company he founded three decades ago.
Odey Wealth was established in Guernsey in 2008 and opened an office in London in 2010 to provide investment advisory services to clients. It is part of the Odey Group, which also includes Odey Asset Management and Brook Asset Management.
The subsidiary wrote to clients in June that it was “considering several business options” as it dealt with the fallout from the allegations against its founder, which prompted many of its prime brokers to cut ties.
In the same month, the FCA imposed restrictions on Odey Wealth and its parent company, including a weekly obligation to submit its bank account details to the regulator and seek regulatory approval for “unusual” payments of more than £20,000.
Odey vigorously refutes the accusations made by the 13 women. Six more women have since claimed they were sexually harassed or assaulted by the financier. He did not respond to a request for comment on these subsequent allegations.
Last month, O’Dea admitted sexual misconduct for the first time after a 20th woman accused him of groping her breasts in his office. Audi said the incident did occur but was an “aberration” which he blamed on the aftereffects of an anesthetic given to him by his dentist that day.
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