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Crispin Odey told a receptionist he was in “deep trouble” after she alleged he tried to kiss her despite his receiving a final written warning from his hedge fund about his contact with female staff, a court has heard.
The former hedge fund boss texted the temporary worker to say he found her account “strange when our lunch ended in the Catholic Church listening to an organ recital. Beautiful but not kissing? Where has this come from?”, according to a message referred to in court by the Financial Conduct Authority on Friday.
She replied that she had a “lovely lunch and outing, but even you told me you wanted more than friendship and I had to do a bit of a duck at the end as I thought you were trying to kiss me, haha”.
The messages were heard during the fourth day of a legal appeal brought by Odey against his £1.8mn fine and ban from the FCA last year. The watchdog took action over how Odey responded to attempts by his executive committee to discipline him over his conduct towards female employees.
The receptionist also told Odey that she thought “there wasn’t anything untoward” about the encounter and was “annoyed with [someone at her agency] she made it sound so sinister”, the Upper Tribunal in London heard on Friday.
But she added that “for professionalism’s sake it would be better” if “someone else” was found for the temporary position.
Odey had texted her: “Have heard news that I tried to kiss you and now in deep trouble”, the court heard.
The recruitment agency that had placed the temporary worker stopped supplying staff to Odey Asset Management, the financier’s eponymous hedge fund, over concerns about his behaviour, the court has previously heard.
The regulator has alleged that Odey, who twice fired his executive committee to stop them disciplining him “lacked integrity”, acted “recklessly” and breached several of its rules. It did not make any findings over the sexual misconduct allegations themselves.
OAM started to shut down in 2023 after several allegations were reported by the FT and other media. Odey denies the claims and has brought a libel action against the FT over its reporting.
The court has previously heard that Odey attended a lunch with the receptionist in September 2021, shortly after her temporary placement at the firm had concluded.
He had been issued with the final written warning by OAM’s executive committee in February 2021, following an internal investigation into historic allegations of inappropriate conduct.
The warning set strict conditions for his continued partnership at the firm.
Lord Roborough, OAM’s former head of research, said in a witness statement that Odey’s “reading of the Final Written Warning was that it did not apply to a temporary member of staff who had left the business”.
“His position was [also] that he was purely helping her to find work.”
The court was also shown an earlier exchange between Odey and the receptionist in which he says it was “such a treat” to meet her and invites her to lunch.
Roborough, who is known professionally as Massey Lopes, was asked on Friday whether he considered the contact between Odey and the receptionist to have breached the written warning.
Clare Sibson KC asked Roborough: “Taking this is at face value . . . are these texts in compliance with the final written warning or not?”
“No, they’re not,” Roborough replied.
The case continues.
