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Crispin Odey plans to make his firm dormant this year, closing a chapter in the history of one of the City of London’s oldest hedge fund firms after its founder’s fall from grace.
Odey Asset Management intends to “cease trading activities and become dormant after January 2026”, according to accounts filed at Companies House last week.
Odey also reallocated £4.3mn previously set aside to pay partners’ national insurance contributions to allow it to be taken as profit, saying “the recognition criteria for a provision are no longer met”, according to the document, which covers the financial year ended in April 2025.
Only two members of the partnership remain — Odey and a holding company at which he is the sole director. Previous fund managers left or moved to other firms after a 2023 investigation by the FT reported allegations of sexual misconduct against Odey.
Odey Asset Management’s business subsequently collapsed as key banking partners cut ties and clients pulled their funds. The firm’s regulatory authorisation ceased in 2024.
Odey has strenuously denied the claims and has an ongoing libel suit for £79mn against the FT.
Some dormant companies are subject to fewer filing requirements at Companies House, the UK’s corporate registry.
The accounts said that the firm’s members “do not intend to liquidate or wind up” the partnership.
The document setting out the plan to make the firm dormant has been published as Odey enters a year that will be marked by three high-profile court cases.
He is challenging the UK financial regulator’s provisional decision to ban him from financial services for a “lack of integrity”, with a hearing scheduled for March. He also faces a five-week joint trial in the summer that will bring together his libel claim against the FT and a personal injury claim brought by five women against him, which he also denies.
Mrs Justice Heather Williams in July decided that aspects of the libel and personal injury cases should be heard during one trial, in part given the significant overlap of events and witnesses involved.
Crispin Odey did not respond to a request for comment.