Former Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis pleads guilty to securities fraud
Former Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis has pleaded guilty to a number of criminal charges in the United States.
The British billionaire was charged with insider trading last year and has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud.
The 86-year-old’s family trust control a majority stake in Tottenham Hotspur, who sit fifth in the Premier League table having hired manager Ange Postecoglou in the summer of 2023.
Lewis told a New York court on Wednesday: “I am so embarrassed and I apologise to the court for my conduct.”
He founded investment firm Tavistock Group and is worth nearly £5bn.
Tavistock Group own assets and investments in over 200 companies from art and agriculture to real estate.
Tottenham Hotspur has previously referred to the charges against Lewis as a “legal matter unconnected with the club”.
Lewis has been ranked, according to Forbes data on Wednesday, as the 443rd richest person in the world.
As part of the plea deal, Lewis has the right to appeal in the event he is sentenced to prison time, his lawyer David Zornow said, according to Reuters.
The Joe Lewis story
Last year prosecutor Damian Williams, of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, said Lewis had engaged in “classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating and it’s against the law.”
He added: “Those folks then traded on that inside information and made millions of dollars on the stock market. Thanks to Lewis those bets were a sure thing.
Jonny Gray, Senior Managing Director for sport at Ankura, the global expert services and advisory firm, told Morning Wire in July 2023: “If the charges against Joe Lewis are proven, this will raise significant continuous monitoring questions for both the Premier League and Uefa if he remains a beneficiary of Bahamian Trust ENIC that owns the club.”