Crispin Odey draws up emergency plan ahead of assault trial
Crispin Odey’s hedge fund business is reportedly drawing up contingency plans which could be activated if he is convicted of indecent assault.
Odey Asset Management is preparing an emergency scheme to deal with the hedge fund manager’s absence, according to the Sunday Times.
Among contingency plans is the closure of his flagship European fund, with money being returned to investors.
The newspaper also reported that Odey’s “retail” funds, which are open to savers, will be handed to colleagues James Hanbury and Oliver Kelton.
Last month the Crown Prosecution Service charged the high-profile hedge fund manager with indecent assault. In a statement the CPS said Odey had been “charged with indecent assault following a complaint by a woman over an incident in 1998”. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 28 September.
The Metropolitan police said he is alleged to have indecently assaulted “a woman over 16 years of age” on or around 13 July 1998 at an address in Swan Walk, Chelsea.
In a short statement, Odey said: “The allegation is denied and I will strongly contest this matter.”
Odey, who set up his firm in 1991, is married to Jupiter Asset Management chairwoman Nichola Pease. The couple are worth an estimated £825m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He has made headlines as a vocal supporter of Brexit and is a donor to the Conservative party.
The Sunday Times reported that Odey Asset Management had drawn up the plans as a worst-case scenario.