Joe Lewis avoids jail as former Tottenham owner handed $5m fine for insider trading

Joe Lewis, the billionaire whose family own a majority stake in Tottenham Hotspur, has avoided jail but been fined $5 million (£3.96 million) for sharing illegal stock tips.

A judge in New York heard pleas for leniency from both prosecutors and the 87-year-old’s attorneys for crimes that, according to federal guidelines, carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.

Lewis’s frail health and guilty plea in January, however, were emphasised ahead of sentencing in Manhattan, for which he arrived in a face mask and with a patch over one eye.

Prosecutors said that the Tavistock Group founder, whose family trust controls a majority of Tottenham, passed inside information on his portfolio companies to certain employees, friends and romantic partners. Those tips, said prosecutors, enabled the recipients to reap millions in profit.

In a letter to the court, Lewis, who now lives in the Bahamas, apologised for his actions, saying they were spurred by hubris and childish exuberance and that they had resulted in a devastating and self-inflicted humiliation. He entered a plea deal with prosecutors in January, agreeing to a $50 million (£39.6 million) fine of his Bahamas company, Broad Bay and resigned board seats at US companies.

Before his sentencing, which also included three years probation, Lewis said that he learned as he grew up in England during World War II how “precious life is” and had devoted himself to finding a cure for “horrendous diseases”

“Your honor, I’m here today because I made a terrible mistake. I’m ashamed,” he said. Lewis added that he hoped “to make amends and to rebuild the trust that I have squandered”.

His sentencing is not expected to impact Tottenham in whom Lewis no longer has “significant control”, according to documents filed with Companies House in 2022. Tottenham also issued a statement last year describing the issue as a US legal matter that was unconnected to the club. “The owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is ENIC, with majority control held by a Family Discretionary Trust of which Mr Joseph Lewis is not a beneficiary,” said the statement, which said that the trust was “managed by two independent professional trustees” on behalf of its beneficiaries.

Lewis, who was born in London’s East End, was ranked 39th in the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of around £5 billion. ENIC own 86.58 per cent of Spurs shares, 70.12 per cent of which are controlled by the Lewis Family Trust. The remaining 29.88 per cent of ENIC’s stake is owned by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who revealed in newly published accounts that the club are “in discussions with prospective investors” over a potential stake to help support player investment.