Tottenham News Latest: Joe Lewis, the wealthy English billionaire and proprietor of Tottenham, has been indicted in New York for masterminding an audacious scheme of insider trading.
According to prosecutors, Lewis took advantage of his privileged access to corporate boardrooms by sharing confidential information about the companies he invested in with his acquaintances, personal assistants, private pilots, and romantic partners. This allowed them to make substantial profits amounting to millions of dollars.
“None of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a video on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
“But as we allege he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers. That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating. And it’s against the law.”
Lewis, the creator of Tavistock Group, a financial company, has been accused of committing 16 instances of securities fraud and three instances of conspiracy. These alleged offenses occurred between 2013 and 2021.
“The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr. Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment,” Lewis’ lawyer David Zornow said in an emailed statement.
“Mr Lewis has come to the US voluntarily to answer these ill-conceived charges, and we will defend him vigorously in court.”
Williams’ office has been actively targeting insider trading since 2009, when Preet Bharara was in charge. Lewis has been charged with sharing confidential information about companies like Mirati Therapeutics, Solid Biosciences, and Australian Agricultural Co. between 2019 and 2021.
Additionally, he is accused of conspiring to deceive Mirati, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and investors from 2013 to 2018 by employing shell companies and other methods to conceal his ownership of over 20% of the cancer therapy company.
According to prosecutors, Lewis provided financial assistance to individuals who received insider trading tips from him. For instance, in 2019, he transferred $1 million to two pilots so that they could purchase additional shares of Mirati.
The indictment cited one of the pilots texting a friend, mentioning that “Boss lent Marty and I $500,000 each for this,” and expressing the belief that “the Boss has inside info” because “otherwise why would he make us invest.” It is alleged that both pilots promptly repaid their loans after Mirati announced positive results from a clinical trial, leading to a 16.7% increase in the company’s stock price.
“Loan payback for MRTX,” the second pilot wrote in his records.
Lewis gained fame for acquiring a stake of almost 10% in Bear Stearns in 2007, just before the bank narrowly escaped collapse and was purchased by JPMorgan Chase at a significantly reduced price. It is believed that he suffered losses exceeding $1 billion as a result.