Former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis due back in court in January as British billionaire awaits insider trading trial following $300m bond hearing

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire whose family trust owns a majority stake in Tottenham Hotspur, will not appear again in a New York court until January over his alleged role in a “brutal” insider trading operation.

The 86-year-old, whose fortune is estimated at $6.1 billion, pleaded not guilty to 19 counts of insider trading and conspiracy in July in a Manhattan courtroom.

Lewis surrendered to the FBI before being released on $300 million bail, guaranteed by his $250 million superyacht Aviva and personal jets.

He was ordered to surrender his passport and is not allowed to leave the United States.

Lewis was initially expected back in court on Tuesday, but it is clear the 86-year-old will now wait until early 2024.

Tottenham described the charge against Lewis as a ‘legal matter unrelated to the club’

Lewis is accused of “orchestrating brutal insider trading” by passing tips about companies to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners.

The alleged crimes allegedly took place between 2013 and 2021, when Lewis owned the Spurs.

Lewis appeared in federal court on July 26, along with two of his pilots and co-defendants: Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh. They are suspected of making millions of dollars in illegal profit from Lewis’ tips. They also pleaded not guilty.

At the hearing, the billionaire was charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy. Both charges carry a maximum prison sentence of five to 25 years.

The 86-year-old is pictured next to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy (right) in north London

O’Connor, of New York, and Waugh, of Virginia, each face seven counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Lewis’ Tavistock Group has investments in more than 200 companies and 13 countries, including ENIC, which bought a controlling interest in Tottenham in 2001.

But Spurs responded to the Lewis scandal with a statement describing the charge as a “legal issue unrelated to the club.”

Ownership of ENIC passed to the Lewis Family Discretionary Trust in October last year and Lewis is not a beneficiary, meaning he is no longer subject to Premier League rules, which exclude owners under investigation by a criminal authority.

The family trust is administered on behalf of the beneficiaries by two independent professional trustees — Katie Louise Booth, a Briton residing in the Bahamas, and Bryan Antoine Glinton, a Bahamian attorney — and they have since been listed as the individuals with significant control at Spurs. October.