TOTTENHAM billionaire Joe Lewis has pled not guilty to charges of insider training.
The 86-year-old, whose family trust controls a majority of Spurs, surrendered to the US authorities in Manhattan and appeared in court on Wednesday.
He entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo in Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutor Nicolas Roos says Lewis would be released on a 300 million dollar bond secured by his yacht, named the Aviva, and private aircraft.
Two of Lewis’ pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh, also pleaded not guilty to related insider trading charges, after being accused of making millions of dollars in illegal profit from Lewis’ tips.
Their bail was set at 250,000 dollars each.
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Lewis was charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy, for alleged crimes spanning from 2013 to 2021, and could theoretically face decades in prison.
O’Connor and Waugh, who are residents of New York and Virginia, respectively, each face seven counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.
Separately on Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil insider trading case against Lewis, O’Connor, Waugh and Lewis’ former girlfriend Carolyn Carter.
“None of this was necessary,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “Joe Lewis is a wealthy man.”
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Prosecutors said that in 2019 Lewis lent each pilot 500,000 dollars [£387,000] and encouraged them to buy stock in oncology company Mirati Therapeutics before it released favourable clinical results.
O’Connor texted a friend that he thought “the Boss has inside info”, according to the indictment.
After Mirati announced the positive results, its share price increased 16.7 per cent in one day, and both pilots repaid Lewis for his loans, it is claimed.
Lewis is a self-made billionaire who was born in London – but rarely spends time in the UK.
He is worth £4.7m, according to Forbes magazine.
As per the Forbes rich list, he has an estimated fortune of a whopping £4.3billion.
Lewis is the founder and primary investor of Bahamas-based investment firm Tavistock Group.
He bought a controlling stake in the Premier League club from Lord Sugar in 2001 for £22million.
Lewis officially ceded control of the club last year, with Bahamian lawyer Bryan A Glinton replacing him as a director according to Companies House.
His stake in the club – which he held through the ENIC Group alongside Daniel Levy – was formally handed to a family trust last year.
Family members of Lewis remain beneficiaries of the trust.
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It is understood the Premier League does not consider Lewis as a person with control at Tottenham, and therefore not subject to its owners’ and directors’ test.
A Tottenham club spokesman said: “This is a legal matter unconnected with the club and as such we have no comment.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
