REUTERS
NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) – Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and owner of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, has been criminally charged in New York for orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading scheme.
Prosecutors said Lewis exploited his access to corporate boardrooms by passing tips about companies in which he invested to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners, enabling them to reap millions of dollars of profit.
“None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a video on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
“But as we allege he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers,” Williams continued. “That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating. And it’s against the law.”
Lewis, 86, who founded the investment firm Tavistock Group, was charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy, for alleged crimes spanning from 2013 to 2021.
Tavistock and a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
Lewis is worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Insider trading has long been a focus of Williams’ office, dating to 2009 when a crackdown began under one of his predecessors, Preet Bharara.
Lewis was accused of having from 2019 to 2021 passed material nonpublic information about companies such as Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX.O), Solid Biosciences (SLDB.O) and Australian Agricultural Co (AAC.AX).
