London banker suing Financial Times for libel

Former City banker Crispin Odey is suing the Financial Times for libel after it published allegations that he had sexually assaulted multiple women, according to a Press Gazette report.

The Press Gazette story states, “Court records show the case was filed at the High Court on Wednesday afternoon, almost a year after the FT and Tortoise Media first jointly published the accusations.

“They included claims from several women, who reportedly had social or professional relationships with Odey, that they had been abused or harassed by him, with some alleging he sexually assaulted them.

“Odey has denied the allegations against him, telling the FT they were ‘rubbish’.

“On Thursday, a spokesperson for the paper said that a claim had been issued and that it would be ‘vigorously defending’ its reporting.

“They said: ‘More than 11 months after publication of our initial investigative news report about Crispin Odey his lawyers recently sent us a letter of claim, and a libel claim has now been issued without waiting for our reply.'”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.