Joe Lewis — the British billionaire and owner of Tottenham Hotspur soccer club — was indicted for orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading scheme, New York prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The 86-year-old allegedly spent years giving inside information to friends, romantic partners, personal assistants, and even personal private pilots, who then made millions playing the stock market with his tips, according to prosecutors.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York called Lewis’ actions “classic corporate corruption” in an announcement of the indictment.
“None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is 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,” Williams said.
“It’s cheating. And it’s against the law. Laws that apply to everyone, no matter who you are. That’s why Joe Lewis has been indicted and will face justice here in the Southern District of New York.”
Lewis, who founded the investment firm Tavistock Group faces 16 counts of securities fraud, along with three counts of conspiracy, according to Reuters.
Tavistock and a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
Lewis is worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Lewis was accused of having from 2019 to 2021 passed material nonpublic information about companies such as Mirati Therapeutics, Solid Biosciences and Australian Agricultural Co.
He was also accused of having from 2013 to 2018 conspired to defraud Mirati, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and investors by using shell companies and other means to hide his more than 20% stake in the cancer therapy company.
Prosecutors said that in some insider trading cases, Lewis lent money to recipients of his tips, including in Oct. 2019 when he wired $1 million to two pilots so they could buy more Mirati shares.
The indictment quoted one pilot texting a friend that “Boss lent Marty and I $500,000 each for this,” and that he thought “the Boss has inside info” because “otherwise why would he make us invest.”
Both pilots allegedly repaid their loans soon after Mirati announced favorable results from a clinical trial, causing its stock price to rise 16.7%.
“Loan payback for MRTX,” the second pilot wrote in his records.
With Post Wires
