(Bloomberg) -- Crispin Odey was fined £1.8 million ($2.3 million) and banned by the UK’s financial regulator for showing a “reckless disregard” for governance at his former investment fund.
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The Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement Odey’s conduct demonstrated that he was not a “fit and proper person” to work in the financial services industry after he moved to frustrate a disciplinary hearing into his own conduct in late 2021.
Odey removed all of the existing representatives of the executive committee at Odey Asset Management, appointed himself the sole member and indefinitely postponed that hearing.
OAM ultimately shuttered in 2023, after the Financial Times published fresh allegations of sexual harassment and assault by Odey. The company is in the process of being wound down.
“Odey repeatedly sought to evade and obstruct efforts to hold him to account. His lack of integrity means he deserves to be banned from the industry,” said Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.
Odey is intending to challenge the FCA’s findings and has disputed the claims against him.
It’s the second high-profile financial regulation case to be elevated to the UK’s Upper Tribunal in recent years. Former Barclays Plc chief executive officer Jes Staley last week concluded testimony in his attempt to overturn a fine and lifetime ban. On Friday, Crispin Odey was seen in the courthouse talking with Staley.
OAM had convened Odey’s disciplinary hearing in 2021 following an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and assault brought by employees. The most serious allegation was one of sexual assault on a female member of staff in 2005.
Odey admitted some of the allegations relating to physical contact but denied or did not recall most of the allegations, the FCA said on Monday.
The FCA’s final notice detailed how Odey sought to disrupt and undermine the disciplinary process at OAM. When one committee member told him that the hearing wouldn’t be delayed, Odey told him he was fired. When that individual then told Odey the hearing would progress and he would need to remove the entire committee to stop the hearing from proceeding, Odey responded by saying “Okay, well that’s what I’ll do.”
(Updates to add detail from FCA decision notice from second paragraph.)