The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said on 1 November that it warned hedge fund manager Crispin Odey earlier this year that it will take regulatory action against him after finding that he frustrated an internal probe into sexual misconduct allegations and showed a “lack of integrity.”
The warning notice statement was issued on 18 September stating the FCA considered that during the period from 24 December 2021 to 17 November 2022 Odey, who was a certification employee at Odey Asset Management LLP (OAM) and at times during this period held senior management functions, breached Individual Conduct Rule 1 of the FCA’s Code of Conduct which required him to act with integrity.
In February 2021, OAM gave Odey a final written warning in relation to inappropriate behaviour. In late 2021, OAM scheduled a disciplinary hearing to consider whether Odey had breached the final written warning.
Odey was due to attend the disciplinary hearing on 6 January 2022 but on 24 December 2021 he used his majority shareholding in OAM to remove the existing members of OAM’s Executive Committee (ExCo) and appoint himself as its sole member.
On 6 January 2022, at an ExCo meeting for which he was the sole member, Odey decided that the disciplinary hearing into his conduct would be indefinitely postponed since he said he was unable to conduct it with impartiality.
A warning notice is not the final decision of the FCA. The individual has the right to make representations to the Regulatory Decisions Committee which, in the light of those representations, will decide on the appropriate action and whether to issue a decision notice.
