LONDON (Reuters) – One of Britain’s most high-profile hedge fund managers told a London court on Thursday that being accused of groping a young female banker in 1998 was a “horrible slur”.
Crispin Odey, a 62-year-old multi-millionaire and political donor, denies a single charge of indecent assault.
Testifying on Thursday, he said he invited the “attractive and intelligent” woman to his home in West London more than 20 years ago for a social meeting.
“We were talking away and she suddenly said to me: ‘Why are you being so nice to me?’ and ‘Where do you think this is all going to end?’ and I said I think it might end up in bed,” he said.
But he alleged he had “totally misunderstood” her question because she had been appalled, he had apologised and she walked out in silence.
Asked by the prosecutor whether he would have responded if she had welcomed his advances, he told the court: “I might have. I don’t know. That is to my shame.”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleges that she went to Odey’s house for a business meeting because he was a prominent client of her former investment bank employer.
But once there, he changed into a dressing gown and “lunged at her”, putting a hand up her skirt and on her breast. She alleged she was shocked and scared, wrestled herself free and left.
She has told the court she was worried about jeopardising her career but reported the alleged incident to her employer one year later and to the police in 2017, when she was inspired by the #MeToo movement, which emboldened women to share experiences of sexual assault and harassment.
Odey, who has been married for about 30 years, was supported in court by his wife Nichola Pease.
Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise