Odey’s Alleged Victim Describes Assault as ‘Scramble of Hands’

(Bloomberg) -- The banker who accused Crispin Odey of assault told a London court that the hedge fund manager was a “scramble of hands” as she described the alleged incident that occurred more than 20 years ago.

The trial resumed Thursday with questioning of the woman, who was in her mid-20s in the summer of 1998 when she went to Odey’s London home. The alleged attack in the kitchen was swift, she said.

“He was next to me and so it was sort of a like an octopussy type maneuver,” the woman, who isn’t being identified for legal reasons, said as she was testifying via videolink. “And then it’s a scramble of hands. It’s like a groping event is the only way to describe it.”

Odey denies the charge and had pushed to have the case heard by a magistrate rather than be tried by a jury. The trial comes after a humbling year for the 62-year-old, who’s seen a 30% decline in his fund and his name dropped from some of the funds managed at his eponymous firm.

Odey has said that he was attracted to the woman and suggested that they may end up in bed together but insisted he never touched her. He is charged with a count of indecent assault.

The woman, who worked as a junior salesperson at an investment bank that had Odey as a client, said in a police interview that she was left frightened whether he would pursue her after she struggled free. “I just stopped meeting clients if I could avoid it because there just seemed to be no boundaries,” she said.

The woman, who was at times tearful, said the investment bank failed to act on her allegation when she told human resources a year after the alleged incident.

Odey’s lawyer Crispin Aylett responded, saying “I suggest that you’ve got an overactive imagination.”

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