A multimillionaire hedge fund manager groped a junior banker “like an octopus” during an alleged assault at his Chelsea home, a court has heard.
The banker said she was warned by colleagues she would be fired if she complained about the incident.
Crispin Odey, 62, has acknowledged propositioning a then 26-year-old banker in 1998 after inviting her to his home, but has denied indecently assaulting her.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Hendon magistrates court that Odey had put his hand down her shirt to touch her breast and reached up her skirt, after inviting her back to his house following a work meeting at his office in Grosvenor Square, central London.
The complainant, who now lives in the US, told the court the following day she informed three senior colleagues at the bank, which cannot be named to protect her identity. She said: “They said, ‘You will be fired … nothing will come of this. You will lose your job’.”
In his statement to police, one of the men said: “She was upset and felt that Odey had taken advantage of her. I didn’t know how serious it was and what exactly had happened.”
Giving evidence, he said: “The impression was something inappropriate had happened, but she didn’t tell us anything more than that in terms of what had happened, so there was a sort of spectrum of possibilities.
“There was no suggestion that anything was necessarily so serious that action need be taken forthwith.
“I think if that was the case the three of us, even though we weren’t management, would’ve taken action unilaterally ourselves.”
Odey, who was 39 at the time, denies any physical contact with the woman, who was a junior employee at a well-known investment bank of which he was a client.
Under cross-examination the complainant said: “He was next to me. It was sort of like an octopussy-type manoeuvre.
“The first thing I remember was actually on my back. Then, it was like a scramble of hands – it was like a groping event is the only way to describe it.
“The very first thing was the hand on my back. I can’t remember the exact sequence, I just remember the general attempt to get involved with my body and on top of me with his hands.
Odey’s lawyer, Crispin Aylett QC, asked: “Is it the case this didn’t happen at all and that’s why you can’t remember the choreography?”
The woman replied: “Well, we disagree on that.”
She also disagreed when the barrister suggested that Odey “didn’t touch you in any way at all in a sexual sense” inside the house.
The court also heard from a former boyfriend and ex-colleague who the woman called after leaving Odey’s home.
He said she was “very upset” when she arrived at his flat, adding: “She was crying and when I asked details of what had got her so upset, she clammed up and then was very emotional.
“I suggested if anything untoward had happened she should go and report it to police.
“I think the reaction that she gave me where she didn’t want to talk about what happened made me think something not very nice had happened.”
Taking him through his police witness statement, the prosecutor Kerry Broome said the man had “presumed at the time Crispin Odey had tried it on with her”. He replied: “Yes, that’s correct.”
The trial continues.
