NEW YORK — British billionaire Joe Lewis, whose family owns the Tottenham Hotspur football club, will be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty in New York to insider trading and conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had many stern words to say about the 87-year-old’s crimes in court filings, but they also agree that his age, medical problems and willingness to come to the U.S. to face criminal charges have earned him leniency that may result in no prison time.
U.S. sentencing guidelines call for Lewis, a citizen of the United Kingdom and resident of the Bahamas, to serve 18 months to two years behind bars.
During his plea in January, Lewis admitted that he had agreed to share secrets about publicly traded companies with several people in 2019. He told Judge Jessica GL Clarke he was “so ashamed” of his behaviour. Prosecutors said afterward that his company, Broad Bay Limited, and Lewis would pay $50 million in financial penalties, the largest financial penalty for insider trading in a decade.
Prosecutors wrote in their presentation that Lewis deserved leniency because he is elderly and “has significant health issues” that would make a prison sentence more difficult for him than for others.
They cited his acceptance of responsibility, which he demonstrated by voluntarily surrendering rather than forcing a protracted extradition battle, and said he “would otherwise have lived a law-abiding life.”
The government also noted that Lewis is recognized as one of the 500 richest people in the world with approximately $6.2 billion as of February, including homes in several countries, a $250 million yacht, private jets worth $90 million and a art collection worth $100 million. .
Defense attorneys said in their presentation that Lewis was “nearing the end of his life due to declining health” and that the court’s probation office had recommended no prison time, three years of probation and a $5 million fine.
They said that if Lewis is not jailed, he will leave the United States immediately, knowing that his conviction will mean he cannot return to see his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live in the US.
From the start, Lewis was no ordinary defendant. After his arrest less than a year ago, he was released on $300 million bail after posting a yacht and a private plane as collateral.
In court filings, prosecutors said Lewis discovered secrets about publicly traded companies after making major investments. They said he tipped off his girlfriend, personal pilots, employees and friends at least four times, allowing them to profit from the secrets.
“This insider trading was not the result of aberrant, one-off behavior, but rather a disturbing pattern of misconduct over several years,” they wrote.
Prosecutors said it was possible that the insiders’ activities were the result of “hubris, ego, a desire to make a financial gift without parting with one’s own money, an irrational form of greed or some other reason.”
But either way, “it is clear that Lewis believed he was above the law – that he had achieved a level of wealth and status that freed him from having to operate under the same rules that apply to ordinary investors” , prosecutors said.