When philandering bankers' independently wealthy wives walk away
Crispin Odey and Jes Staley have a few things in common. Not only have the ex-hedge fund manager and ex-Barclays CEO appeared in British courts, where dirty laundry relating to their sexual exploits - alleged and otherwise - has been aired in public, but both men were married to women of independent means and are now either divorced or in the process of becoming so.
Nicola Pease divorced Crispin Odey after 30 years in 2021. Pease pulled out of the marriage following a court case in which her husband was cleared of indecent assault, but where Odey admitted to propositioning a 26-year-old female banker while she was pregnant. At the time, Odey said the divorce was amicable, but it's not clear how Pease feels in light of the subsequent Financial Times article in which 13 women accused of Odey abuse or harassment. Nor is it clear how she feels following revelations from this week's court case in which her ex-husband is battling his ban by the FCA, and former colleagues are describing him as a sex pest. For his part, Crispin Odey denies all wrongdoing. He is due to appear in court again in June, when he will fight another case combining a personal injury claim from five women and his own libel case against the FT.
Jes Staley's wife has only just filed for divorce. Bloomberg reported that Debra Staley's divorce petition was filed in New York on March 13th. No reason is given for the filing, but Jes Staley went through his own ill-judged court case against the FCA last year. During those hearings, he admitted to having an affair with a woman in Jeffrey Epstein's apartment. Jes also appears in the Epstein files and he described Epstein has his most "cherished friend," while maintaining total ignorance of Epstein's nefarious activities. More recently, it emerged that in 2010, Epstein sent a woman instructions to dress up in a Snow White costume so that he could "take photos." Three weeks later, Staley sent Epstein a message saying "that was fun. Say hi to Snow White." The two things may not be linked.
Both Pease and Debra had money before marrying their financier husbands. Pease, who has been a successful asset manager in her own right, comes from a Quaker family that founded Barclays and made money from rail and coal in the 19th century. Debra comes from the Brazilian Nitzan family, which sold a data centre to KKR for $700m in 2015.
Neither woman needs her husband's money. Nor may they need much else from their ex-spouses. - Jes Staley said in court last year that he didn't have many friends and relied upon his wife's friends for company. Debra, at least, has a good support network.
Divorce is never easy, though. Especially when the man you have loved turns out to be someone you didn't entirely know. Nicola Pease stepped down as the non executive chair of Jupiter Asset Management in 2023, citing "personal reasons." Fourteen years previously, Pease had told the Commons Treasury Select Committee that old style City sexism had "died a death." This summer's court cases will reveal whether her now ex-husband was, in fact, keeping it alive.
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