Joe Lewis has been indicted for allegedly orchestrating an insider trading scheme. According to the US Attorney, Lewis is accused of using insider information to reward his employees and shower gifts on his friends and lovers. Lewis plans to vigorously defend himself against these charges.
Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur, has pleaded not guilty after being indicted for a “brazen” insider trading scheme. Damian Williams, a prosecutor, made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We allege that for years Joe Lewis abused access to corporate board rooms and repeatedly provided inside information to his romantic partners, his personal assistants, his pilots and his friends.
“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.
“None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man, but as we allege he used insider information 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.”
Lewis entered his not guilty plea on Wednesday before magistrate judge Valerie Figueredo in Manhattan.
He ceased to be a “person with significant control” of Tottenham last year after the club said there had been a “reorganisation of the Lewis Family Trusts”.
However, this took place after his alleged offences were committed.
The indictment also accuses him of “false disclosure of his ownership” and using shell companies and trusts purportedly for the benefit of family members to give him access to company information.
Lewis’ lawyer, David Zornow, said the government had “made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment”.
He added that Mr Lewis had come to the US voluntarily to answer the “ill-conceived” charges which would be “defended vigorously in court”.
A Tottenham club spokesperson said: “This is a legal matter unconnected with the club and as such we have no comment.”
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