Crispin Odey abandons £79mn libel case against the FT over sexual misconduct claims

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Crispin Odey has dropped his £79mn libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, acknowledging that the FT would win in its defence. 

In a letter on Friday afternoon, lawyers for the former hedge fund boss said he had been “forced to accept” that the FT was “likely to succeed in establishing” its public interest defence.

Odey’s abrupt U-turn came only two months after the FT had served him with the substantial disclosure of the evidence that it intended to rely on in court, relating to its investigations into his behaviour.

In 2023, the FT published several articles detailing allegations from 20 women of sexual assault and harassment against Odey. The allegations covered a period of five decades.

“This is a vindication for investigative journalism and for the victims whose stories of abuse we reported,” said the FT’s editor, Roula Khalaf. “The FT was always confident in its reporting. This is a case that should have never been brought.”

Odey’s decision to drop his claim also follows a three-week hearing in which he challenged a decision by the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, to ban him from financial services. In that hearing, Odey had admitted to sexually assaulting one of his employees in 2005. 

“Having just endured the stress and strain of a three-week trial in the Upper Tribunal, he does not wish to pursue another lengthy trial at considerable cost, only to fail on the issue of public interest, even if he was successful, as he believes he would be, in demonstrating that he is not the violent predator he was presented as being in the articles,” Odey’s lawyers wrote.

Odey faces a seven-figure liability for the FT’s legal costs on top of his own. He launched the libel claim in May 2024. 

In its defence, the FT had pleaded the accounts of 15 women willing to come to testify in court on its behalf. That included three women whose allegations had not previously been reported. 

One of those said that in 2018, when she was aged 20, she had been invited to a shooting party at Odey’s home in Gloucestershire. She said she and her boyfriend became aware that Odey had entered their bedroom in the guesthouse uninvited and was watching them while they were having sex. 

Odey persisted in maintaining his denial of the allegations.