City’s £825m couple split after pain of assault case
ONLY weeks after he was cleared of f groping a junior banker following a lurid court hearing, I can reveal that t hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey is to split from his wife of 30 years, Nichola Pease, citing ‘public humili- ation’ over the case.
The surprise separation – after the e couple staged a show of unity outside e court during the stressful case – sets the stage for what could be one of f the costliest divorces in recent British legal history.
Explaining the split, the 62-yearold Harrow and Oxford-educated banker, referring to Nichola, told me: ‘Public humiliation is not something any girl should take.’
It is a mournful end to what might have been a new chapter for the couple, whose combined worth has been estimated at £825 million by The Sunday Times Rich List.
The pair were pictured arm in arm outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in March after Mr Odey was found not guilty of indecent assault.
It had been alleged that in 1998 the financier launched himself upon the woman, then in her 20s, like ‘an octopus’ at his £7.8 million Chelsea house. But District Judge Nicholas Rimmer said there were inconsistencies in her account and told Mr Odey he could leave the court with ‘your good character intact’.
Mr Odey who made £220 million in 2016 betting against the pound as the UK voted to leave the European Union, told me that the court case had placed intolerable pressure on his marriage, which shattered from the pressure of public scrutiny.
‘ I’ve been through the wars in every kind of way,’ he said. ‘I won, but there was something publicly humiliating about the case.’
Nichola, who married the Conservative Party donor in 1991 and has had three children with him, is a successful fund manager in her own right. She is chairman of Jupiter Asset Management and a descendant of the founders of Barclays.
Mr Odey told me they are living apart but still on good terms.
He said: ‘ There is nobody else involved. It’s essentially the sins of the past. These things are very sad.’
But the larger-than-life tycoon, who set up his fund management firm with £150 million of seed money from investor George Soros, has retained his upbeat outlook, saying he was thankful for the marriage and that ‘we’ve got three wonderful children, and we’re very lucky’.