On April 4, 2024, Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, arrived at the New York Federal Court to accept the verdict in the insider trading case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced on January 24, 2024 that Lewis pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud through insider trading.
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A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered British billionaire Joe Lewis to pay a $5 million fine and serve three years of probation for sharing illegal stock tips, leaving the 87-year-old founder of an investment firm in jail after prosecutors and He was spared jail after his lawyers urged leniency.
U.S. District Judge Jessica Clark in Manhattan sentenced Lewis, who pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy and two counts of securities fraud.
Lewis, the founder of the Tavistock Group, wore a gray suit and an eyepatch as he sat next to his lawyer at the sentencing. He told the judge he was ashamed of what he had done.
“I’m here today because I made a terrible mistake,” he said.
The judge agreed that Lewis could leave the United States on a private jet on Thursday night, but his yacht, the Aviva, would be impounded until he pays the fine.
Lewis’s spokesman, Mark Hull, said after the hearing: “Mr. Lewis is grateful that the court imposed a suspended sentence that took into account his age and health issues.”
Prosecutors said Lewis, whose family trust controls a majority stake in London’s Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, passed inside information about his portfolio companies to two of his private pilots as well as friends, personal assistants and lovers.
Prosecutors say the tips netted recipients millions of dollars in profits.
Lewis reached a plea deal with prosecutors in January, agreeing to a $50 million fine against his Bahamian company, Broad Bay. Under the agreement, Lewis’ fine will be included in the total.
He also agreed to resign his board seat at U.S. companies and give up a majority stake in Boxer Capital, a biotech-focused fund from which prosecutors said he received his tips.
The Londoner, who lives in the Bahamas, traveled to New York to face charges as soon as he learned he was being indicted, his lawyers said in court documents.
Lewis has since remained in the country, using his yacht and a private jet to post bail of $300 million.
His decision not to oppose extradition, combined with his serious health problems, led prosecutors to recommend leniency for Lewis and his doctors said jail time could be fatal.
According to Forbes magazine, Louis is worth $6.2 billion.
Prosecutors said he collected inside information about four companies he invested in between 2019 and 2021 and disclosed the information to friends and colleagues.
Those companies include cancer treatment developer Mirati Therapeutics and BCTG Acquisition, a blank check company sponsored by Boxer Capital that took biotech company Tango Therapeutics public through a merger in 2021, according to prosecutors.
The two pilots are also accused of illegally profiting from millions of dollars in Lewis’ tips.
One of them, Patrick O’Connor, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
The second pilot, Bryan Waugh, denied wrongdoing and said the charges should be dismissed because he was only accused of trading on stock recommendations and not on insider information.
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