Premier League chiefs in the dark over former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis' indictment charges in US
The Premier League had no prior warning of former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis' indictment in New York on 16 counts of insider share dealing and conspiracy, which Lewis denies.
The news came as a shock to Premier League executives on Wednesday, with the 86-year old billionaire, the man originally behind ENIC, which owns 70 per cent of Spurs, facing the prospect of spending rest of his life in jail if found guilty.
Lewis' bail was set at £230m last week, his super yacht and private jet part of the bond, with Lewis surrendering his passport.
The ownership of ENIC passed to the Lewis Family Discretionary Trust in October last year and Lewis is not a beneficiary, meaning he no longer comes under Premier League rules, which bar owners who are being investigated by a criminal authority.
The family trust is managed by two independent professional trustees — Katie Louise Booth, a 55-year-old Briton living in the Bahamas, and Bryan Antoine Glinton, a 56-year-old Bahamian lawyer — on behalf of its beneficiaries and they have been listed as the persons of significant control at Spurs since October.
The Premier League insist they have undertaken enhanced due diligence to confirm that Lewis no longer has any influence on the club.
Some of the US federal charges allege Lewis controlled a company, Jasara Investments, even though he was not the nominated owner, in order to boost his Mirati shareholding.
The indictment says he lied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission about this and adds 'though Lewis was not the nominal owner of Jasara Investments he had effective control and beneficially owned the additional shares of Mirati stock it owned.'
Lewis's lawyers did not respond to questions but have previously said that the US authorities
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