On Tuesday, British billionaire Joe Lewis—the principal owner of the English Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur—was charged by federal prosecutors in New York for insider trading.
Lewis is accused of orchestrating a “brazen” scheme in which he fed information on companies he invested in to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners, according to Reuters. In total, he was indicted on 19 counts: 16 on securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy.
“None of this was necessary,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “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.”
Lewis, 86, is one of the richest men in Britain. He is the founder of the Tavistock Group, a private investment firm, and purchased Tottenham in 2001. The club was ranked was the sixth-most valuable Premier League team in 2023 by Sportico, at a valuation of $3.19 billion.
