26 July 2023 , 13:20
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British billionaire Joe Lewis pleaded not guilty in a US court on Wednesday after being charged with insider trading.
The 86-year-old, who denies the charges, surrendered to federal authorities in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office said.
Lewis, who is based in the Bahamas and bought Tottenham Hotspur in 2001 via his ENIC company, has been charged with 13 counts of securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; three counts of securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison; and three counts of conspiracy, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
But Lewis has denied the charges and prosecutor Nicolas Roos said he would be released on a $300m (£232m) bail secured by his yacht and private aircraft. Two of his pilots also pleaded not guilty and were granted bail.
In a video statement published on social media, Damian Williams, the state attorney for SDNY, said that Lewis “used inside information as a way to compensate employees and shower gifts on friends and lovers … It’s cheating and against the law.”
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But a lawyer acting on behalf of Lewis described the 29-page indictment as “an egregious error in judgment.” David Zornow added: “Mr Lewis [is] an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment. Mr Lewis has come to the US voluntarily to answer these ill-conceived charges, and we will defend him vigorously in court."
In a statement the US Securities and Exchange Commission said: "Today we charged investor Joseph C. Lewis for illegally tipping material nonpublic information to his then-girlfriend, Carolyn W. Carter, as well as his two private pilots, Patrick J. O’Connor and Bryan L. Waugh, so that each would use this information to execute trades."
Spurs have insisted that the indictment “is a legal matter unconnected with the club” because Lewis stopped being a person with significant control last year. ENIC continue to own Spurs but say that it is majority controlled by a family discretionary trust of which Lewis is not a beneficiary.
Filings on Companies House show that Bryan Glinton, a Bahamas-based lawyer, and British-born Katie Louise Booth replaced Lewis as persons with significant control of Spurs in October 2022.
A statement from Tottenham insisted it was a "legal matter unconnected with the club". But should he be convicted in New York, London-born Lewis would be banned from owning a Premier League club under regulations in section F of the competition's handbook.
Joe Lewis in the stands at the Wanda Metropolitano (PA)Announcing the charges on Tuesday night, Williams said: "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."