British billionaire and Tottenham Hotspur owner, Joe Lewis, has been indicted for orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme, according to the US attorney in Manhattan. The indictment alleges that Lewis abused access to corporate boardrooms and provided inside information to his romantic partners, personal assistants, pilots, and friends, who then used this information to make millions of dollars on the stock market.
In a video announcement on messaging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Damian Williams, the US attorney, accused Lewis of engaging in classic corporate corruption and cheating, which is against the law. Lewis’s lawyer, David Zornow, defended his client’s integrity and accomplishments, stating that the charges would be vigorously contested in court.
Joe Lewis owns the Tavistock Group, with more than 200 assets in 13 countries, including ownership of Tottenham Hotspur and UK pub operator Mitchells & Butlers. His wealth, according to Forbes, is estimated at £4.65 billion. Lewis bought a controlling stake in Tottenham Hotspur in 2001 for £22 million.
Born to a Jewish family above a pub in London’s East End, Lewis left school at 15 to help run his father’s catering business. He later ventured into currency trading and allegedly collaborated with American billionaire George Soros to bet on the pound crashing out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, an event known as Black Wednesday.
The indictment has no connection to Tottenham Hotspur, according to a spokesperson for the football club. Joe Lewis now resides in the Bahamas, a significant departure from his modest beginnings in London.