Crispin Odey settles sexual assault claims ahead of London trial

Crispin Odey, the once-prominent hedge fund manager, is understood to have settled a string of damaging legal claims over allegations of sexual assault.

According to a report in the Financial Times, Mr Odey has settled four of the five personal injury claims that had been brought against him, a development that comes just weeks before they were scheduled for a joint trial at the High Court in London next month.

The settlement marks the latest chapter in a tumultuous period that has seen the complete downfall of the financier and the dissolution of his firm, Odey Asset Management.

The serious allegations

The lawsuits contained a series of grave allegations spanning several decades. One claim alleged that Mr Odey raped a woman in the mid-1990s, while another accused him of groping a woman at his home in Chelsea in 1998. A more recent allegation claimed he forced his tongue down a woman’s throat at his Gloucestershire home in 2021 while moving her hand towards his genitals.

Mr Odey has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing, stating that the rape allegations are “wholly false”. For those unversed, he was previously found not guilty of indecently assaulting a woman in relation to the alleged 1998 incident at his Chelsea property. 

The personal injury claims were filed with the High Court after a major investigation by the Financial Times in June 2023 detailed accusations from 13 women, with that number later growing to 20, who claimed Mr Odey had sexually harassed or assaulted them.

The collapse of an empire

The fallout from the 2023 report was both swift and severe. Mr Odey was ousted from his own firm, and as investors pulled their funds and major financial institutions severed their ties, Odey Asset Management announced its closure in October 2023.

In a surprising turn, it was reported in October 2024 that the financier had quietly rejoined what remained of his firm, though this was prior to the recent legal settlements. This all followed his decision to drop a £79m libel lawsuit against the Financial Times in April 2026. 

His lawyers told the FT they had abandoned the lawsuit because it was likely the newspaper would win in court on a public interest defence. The libel case was expected to be heard alongside the personal injury cases, where the women would have appeared as witnesses. Mr Odey continues to deny that the allegations against him are true, but now faces an additional seven-figure charge to cover the newspaper's legal costs.

A battle with City regulators

Beyond the civil claims, Mr Odey is fighting for his professional life against sanctions from the City's watchdog. In March 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned him from the financial services industry for life and imposed a hefty £1.8m fine over what it called a "lack of integrity".

The FCA punished Mr Odey over claims that he attempted to thwart an internal investigation into 46 separate sexual harassment allegations from his staff. The multimillionaire was ruled to have shown a “reckless disregard” for his hedge fund’s governance by firing members of its executive committee who were investigating him. 

During his appeal at the Upper Tribunal in March 2026, it was revealed that the head of his own hedge fund had described him as a "sex pest". Lawyers for Mr Odey argued the sanctions should be overturned, claiming the FCA was making an example of him in its campaign against personal misconduct. A ruling in that case is expected in the coming weeks, as reported by The Telegraph.

The settlement of the civil claims closes one chapter for Mr Odey, but with the tribunal's decision on his lifetime ban still pending, the final consequences of the scandal that destroyed his career are yet to be fully determined.