Odey begins shake-up after chopping ties with scandal-hit founder

Odey Asset Management (OAM) has begun the method of changing its founder’s actions within the enterprise after he was accused by a newspaper of historic sexual misconduct.

The hedge fund introduced on Saturday that Crispin Odey had been faraway from the partnership – 48 hours after the Financial Times and Tortoise Media printed allegations by 13 ladies that he had sexually assaulted or harassed them over a 25-year interval.

He has denied the claims.

The partnership was separated from the broader group, which stays majority-owned by Mr Odey.

An announcement, signed by chief govt Peter Martin and chief monetary officer Michael Ede, stated the agency investigated the allegations regarding Mr Odey however “cannot comment in detail as it is bound by legal obligations of confidentiality”.

It stated: “We, the executive committee of Odey Asset Management LLP, are announcing that Mr Crispin Odey is leaving the partnership.

“As from at this time, he’ll not have any financial or private involvement within the partnership.”

A letter to buyers, seen by Sky News, confirmed that the partnership had made a number of inside appointments to take care of fund administration.

They included co-manager Freddie Neave taking over full duty of the Odey European Inc and OEI Mac funds.

The doc additionally stated there had been “constructive dialogue” over the weekend with its prime brokers.

JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley had been understood to be reviewing their relationships with OAM within the wake of the FT report.

“Acting in the best interest of our investors and our staff has been our primary concern over the past few days”, the letter stated.

Separately, Mike Ashley-majority owned Frasers Group and AO World confirmed on Monday a story by Sky News that OAM had bought a stake in AO to the sports vogue model price £75m – resulting in the institution of a partnership.

It had been prompt that the sale, by OAM fund supervisor James Hanbury, might have been a part of efforts to fund consumer redemptions.

A spokesman for OAM had declined to touch upon the problem when approached on Saturday.

Frasers CEO Michael Murray stated of its new 19% stake in AO: “Frasers will benefit from AO’s valuable know-how in electricals and two-man delivery, helping us to drive growth in our bulk equipment and homeware ranges.

John Roberts, the founder and CEO of AO, said the partnership had “vital potential”.