British billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur, arrested on insider trading charges
Joe Lewis, the British billionaire who owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, was taken into US federal custody in New York City on Wednesday, where he awaited an initial court appearance on insider trading charges alleging that he fed corporate secrets to romantic partners, personal assistants, friends and his pilots, earning them millions of dollars illegally.
Two pilots — Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Marty’ Waugh — were also arrested, authorities said. All three men were expected to appear in Manhattan federal court.
US Attorney Damian Williams, who announced the charges Tuesday night in a video, said in a release that Lewis was accused of “orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme” that utilized his access to corporate boardrooms to feed inside tips to friends and lovers.
“Those folks then traded on that inside information — and made millions of dollars in the stock market — because, thanks to Lewis, those bets were a sure thing,” Williams said. “That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating. And it’s against the law — laws that apply to everyone, no matter who you are.” David M Zornow, an attorney for Lewis, said his client had come to the US “to answer these ill-conceived charges” and would fight them vigorously.
“The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment,” Zornow said in a statement.
Lawyers for the pilots did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.
Lewis is charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy. O’Connor, 66, of Preston Hollow, New York, and Waugh, 64, of Lynchburg, Virginia, each faces seven counts of securities fraud and a conspiracy count.
Lewis has
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