British billionaire and owner of Tottenham Hotspur, Joe Lewis, is facing charges of insider trading in the United States.
The 86-year-old is the latest businessman to be under threat from federal prosecutors following a crackdown on insider trading investigations, according to Bloomberg. In a federal indictment in New York, it was alleged by prosecutors that Lewis shared information from companies to friends, partners and also his personal employees.
"Today I'm announcing that my office, the Southern District of New York has indicted Joe Lewis, the British billionaire, for orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme," Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement Tuesday.
"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. None of this was necessary, Joe Lewis was a wealthy man.
"But as we allege he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers." Lewis now faces more than a dozen charges, including securities fraud and conspiracy.
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A Tottenham spokesperson told Football London on Wednesday: "This is a legal matter unconnected with the club and as such we have no comment."
Prosecutors believe he was involved in insider trading for eight years from 2013 to 2021, and in doing so passed on non-public information about multiple companies. These alleged companies include Solid Biosciences, Australian Agricultural Co. and Mirati Therapeutics.
Lewis reportedly loaned money to those he shared the sensitive information with, the authorities say. The octogenarian has a net worth of £5billion, a figure that's soared due to the valuation of Tottenham.
Lewis has been involved in currency trading for a number of decades and also is an investor in Tavistock Group, which owns more than 200 companies in 15 countries. The recent crackdown in Manhattan has seen 10 people in four cases have charges filed against them.
Calls and emails to Tavistock’s media team are yet to be returned, following Tuesday's news. The charges come just days after Lewis reportedly told Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy that he must sell striker Harry Kane this summer or agree terms with the England international on a new contract.
Tottenham have refused bids from Bayern Munich this summer as they look to hold on to their record goalscorer. But Kane is out of contract next summer, and face him walking away from the club for free. Bayern have offered a transfer fee in the region of £80million to take him off their hands.
Levy has remained firm over his stance of wanting to keep Kane at the club and says that the striker is still not for sale. Kane is still yet to win a professional trophy throughout his career, and pushed to leave the club back in 2021.
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