Owner of Tottenham soccer team, assessed with insider trading in the U.S.

July 31, 2023: On Wednesday, Joe Lewis, a British billionaire, contributed to U.S. authorities in Manhattan and is anticipated to appear in court later to face insider trading charges, a representative for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.

Federal prosecutors accused Lewis, whose home trust controls most of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, of orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading strategy by passing tips about companies he invested in to friends, personal assistants, private pilots, and romantic partners.

Two of Lewis’ pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh, were also charged with insider trading securities fraud. Prosecutors said they reaped millions of dollars in illicit profit from Lewis’ tips.

Lewis’s lawyer David Zornow said prosecutors “made an egregious error” in capturing Lewis, 86, and said his client had voluntarily come to the United States to defend himself against the charges.

They have both also been charged, according to prosecutors.

A spokesperson for Tottenham stated, “This is a legal matter unconnected with the club, and as such, we have no comment.”

Prosecutors said that in 2019 Lewis lent each pilot $500,000 and encouraged them to buy stock in oncology company Mirati Therapeutics before it removed favorable clinical results. O’Connor texted a friend that he thought “the Boss has inside info,” according to the indictment.

After Mirati announced the favorable results, its share price increased by 16.7% in one day, and both heads repaid Lewis for his loans.

In wiring Lewis the refund, Waugh indicated the capital was a “loan payback for MRTX.”