The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has announced the indictment of British billionaire Joe Lewis, who is also the owner of the Tottenham Hotspur football
club, on insider trading charges. US Attorney Damian Williams accused Lewis of orchestrating an audacious insider trading scheme spanning from 2013 to 2021. According to the accusations, Lewis allegedly shared confidential trading tips with his romantic partners, personal assistants, private pilots, and friends, enabling them to make millions of dollars.
Williams stated that Lewis, despite being a wealthy man, allegedly used insider information to reward his employees and lavish gifts on his friends and lovers. The indictment, obtained by Bloomberg, points to one specific instance where Lewis purportedly provided his pilots with a loan of $500,000 each so they could trade a biotech company's stock before the public announcement of the results of a clinical trial.
Furthermore, the indictment claims that Lewis urged his personal assistants and romantic partners to act on the provided information as swiftly as possible to maximize their gains.
Joe Lewis holds the majority ownership of the Premier League football team Tottenham Hotspur and is the founder of the private equity company Tavistock Group, which boasts investments in over 200 companies across 13 countries.
In response to the charges, David M. Zornow, counsel to Lewis, vehemently defended his client, describing him as an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and remarkable achievements. Zornow stated that Lewis willingly traveled to the US to address the charges and will be vigorously defended in court.
Both Tottenham Hotspur and Tavistock Group have yet to respond to requests for comment on the matter. The case has garnered significant attention given Lewis's prominence in both the sports and business worlds. Photo by Ali Zifan, Wikimedia commons.