British billionaire Joe Lewis has surrendered his controlling stake in Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur after being formally indicted surrounding an insider trading scheme in the United States.
Per Duncan Castles, the 86-year-old London-born asset holder “ceded majority ownership of the club to ‘a family discretionary trust’ ‘of which certain members of [his] family are potential beneficiaries’ in October.”
Joe Lewis in no longer the owner of Tottenham Hotspur.
Lewis – indicted by the US Government for insider trading yesterday – ceded majority ownership of the club to ‘a family discretionary trust’ ‘of which certain members of [his] family are potential beneficiaries’ in October. pic.twitter.com/g4aPVfqbCb
— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) July 26, 2023
This comes in the wake of being formally indicted by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Wiliams, on Tuesday for running a “brazen insider trading scheme.”
Statement of U.S. Attorney Damian Williams on U.S. v. Joseph Lewis pic.twitter.com/9rGTTYVx6h
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) July 25, 2023
Lewis, who has also surrendered himself to authorities, also gave up control of Enic; the company that is in direct control of Tottenham.
As such, Spurs are reportedly in no danger of facing subsequent action according to reports in The Telegraph per Matt Law, with initial concerns that the club could face possible sanctions or even a forced sale now having been put to bed.
Per Law, “The 86-year-old billionaire faces a total of 19 charges, all of which carry lengthy jail terms. “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,” alleges Damian Williams, attorney for the southern district of New York. “That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating and it’s against the law.”
“According to the indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Lewis enabled his associates to collectively make millions of dollars using the stolen information, which included favorable results from clinical trials.”
Lewis has denied the allegations, however, with Law providing quotes dispatched by Lewis’ lawyer: “The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr. Lewis, 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.”
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