Tottenham owner Joe Lewis has surrendered to U.S. authorities in New York and is expected to appear in court later Wednesday to face insider trading charges, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.
Prosecutors said Lewis exploited his access to corporate boardrooms by passing on tips about companies in which he invested to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners, enabling them to reap millions of dollars of profit.
Lewis, 86, who founded investment firm Tavistock Group, was charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy in relation to alleged crimes spanning from 2013 to 2021.
Two of Lewis’ pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh, were also charged with insider trading securities fraud. They reaped millions of dollars in illegal profit from Lewis’ tips, prosecutors said.
“None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a video on social media.
“But, as we allege, he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers,” Williams continued. “That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating. And it’s against the law.”
Lewis’ lawyer, David Zornow, said prosecutors “made an egregious error” in charging Lewis and said his client had come to the United States voluntarily to defend himself against the charges.
A Tottenham spokesperson said: “This is a legal matter unconnected with the club, and as such we have no comment.”
Lewis is worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Lawyers for O’Connor, 66, and Waugh, 64, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. They have both also been arrested, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said that in 2019 Lewis lent each pilot $500,000 and encouraged them to buy stock in oncology company Mirati Therapeutics before it released favorable clinical results. O’Connor texted a friend that he thought “the Boss has inside info,” according to the indictment.
After Mirati announced the positive results, its share price increased 16.7% in one day, and both pilots repaid Lewis for his loans.
Separately on Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil insider trading case against Lewis O’Connor, Waugh and Lewis’ then-girlfriend Carolyn Carter.
A lawyer for Carter, who is not facing criminal charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
