British billionaire Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis charged by US authorities for 'brazen' insider trading scheme

25 July 2023, 23:50 | Updated: 26 July 2023, 07:16

Tottenham owner Joe Lewis has been indicted for "brazen" insider trading.

The US attorney in Manhattan Damian Williams said: "Today I'm announcing that my office, the southern district of New York has indicted Joe Lewis, the British billionaire, for orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme.

“We allege that for years Joe Lewis abused access to corporate board rooms and repeatedly provided inside information to his romantic partners, his personal assistants, his pilots and his friends.”

“Those folks then traded on that inside information, and made millions of dollars in the stock market because thanks to Lewis those bets were a sure thing."

"None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man, but as we allege he used insider information to compensate his employees, or to shower gifts on his friends and lovers."

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"That's classic corporate corruption. It's cheating and it's against the law."

Mr Lewis owns the Tavistock Group which includes Tottenham Hotspur and the UK pub operator Mitchells & Butlers.

Forbes estimates his wealth at £4.65 billion pounds

Mr Lewis bought a controlling state in the premier league club in 201 for £22m from Lord Alan Sugar.

Aged 86, the billionaire now lives in the Bahamas.

A Tottenham club spokesperson said: "This is a legal matter unconnected with the club and as such we have no comment."