Joe Lewis has been indicted in the US for “orchestrating a brazen insider training scheme”.
US Attorney Damian Williams announced the charges late on Tuesday night via a video posted on Twitter.
The Southern District of New York have indicted Lewis and accused the 86-year-old billionaire of “classic corporate corruption”.
“Today I am announcing that my office, the Southern District of New York, has indicted Joe Lewis, the British billionaire, for orchestrating a brazen insider training scheme,” said Williams.
“We allege that for years Joe Lewis abused his access to corporate boardrooms and repeatedly provided inside information to his romantic partners, his personal assistants, his private 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.
“Now, none of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man, but as we allege he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or to shower gifts on his friends and lovers. That’s classic corporate corruption.
“It’s cheating and it’s against the law. Laws that apply to everyone, no matter who you are. That’s why Joe Lewis has been indicted and will face justice here in the Southern District of New York.”
It was unclear this morning whether the indictment could raise significant issues for Lewis and Tottenham.
The Premier League owners’ and directors’ test is designed to stop people with criminal convictions owning a club.
Lewis bought a controlling stake in Tottenham from Alan Sugar for £22million in 2001.
But he ceased to be “a person with significant control” of Tottenham last year, following what the club described as a “reorganisation of the Lewis Family Trusts”, which hold the shares in Spurs.
A Tottenham spokesperson said: “This is a legal matter unconnected with the Club and as such we have no comment.”
Lewis’ lawyer David M. Zornow said: “The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr. Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment. Mr. Lewis has come to the U.S. voluntarily to answer these ill-conceived charges, and we will defend him vigorously in court.”
