Misconduct allegations bite into hedge fund’s business
Reporting by Tortoise and the FT on sexual assault claims by 13 women against the hedge fund manager Crispin Odey is having a material impact on his business. Following a podcast by Paul Caruana Galizia last year and fresh reports yesterday, Morgan Stanley said it was terminating its prime brokerage relationship with Odey Asset Management while JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs said they were putting their relationships under review. The banks provide services for the firm which it can in principle source elsewhere, and it boasted its best returns ever in percentage terms last year. But an exodus of investors deterred by earlier losses and negative press has shrunk OAM’s assets under management from $1.8 billion in 2015 to $311 million at the end of April. Odey is already under investigation for “non-financial misconduct” by the Financial Conduct Authority – an investigation could reportedly could be widened now. Odey denies all the allegations, but the FCA, the police and OAM all face serious questions about why they didn’t act on them sooner and with more resolve.
Photograph Harry Borden