Joe Lewis, billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur, is charged with insider trading [View all]

Federal prosecutors charged Joseph C. Lewis, the British billionaire who owns the Tottenham Hotspur English soccer club, with insider trading, accusing him of illegally funneling nonpublic information to associates to trade on.

In a 29-page indictment, prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday accused the 86-year-old financier of doling out tips to friends and associates, including his pilots, personal assistants and romantic partners, from 2019 to 2021.

“He used inside information as a way to compensate employees and shower gifts on friends and lovers,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “It’s cheating and against the law.”

Among the beneficiaries, according to the indictment, are a number of people he hosted at his estate in Lake Escondido, a secluded property in SW Argentina's lake country.

The meetings, held in October 2019, resulted in their purchase of Mirati Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MRTX) stock ahead of positive news regarding Marti's successful Kras gene inhibitor trials for possible oncological use.

Lewis has defied repeated Argentine court rulings since 2009 ordering him to cease blocking a stretch of provincial road leading to the scenic lake, which has effectively cut off public access.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/business/dealbook/joe-lewis-tottenham-insider-trading.html

British billionaire Joe Lewis, charged in Manhattan with insider trading.

Among the beneficiaries, according to the indictment, are a number of people he hosted at his Lake Escondido, Argentina, estate.

Lewis' most prominent Argentine friend is right-wing former President Mauricio Macri, who in October 2019 became the first Argentine president to lose a re-election bid - and who periodically visits Lewis at his lakefront mansion.