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Joe Lewis, the billionaire real estate investor and owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club, has been charged over multiple alleged instances of insider trading, US prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The 86-year-old, who is one of Britain’s richest men, is accused of tipping off employees, associates, friends and romantic interests with non-public information about various entities, and lending some of them hundreds of thousands of dollars to trade on the privileged knowledge.
According to an indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday, Lewis and his associates were collectively able to make millions of dollars using the stolen information, which included favourable results from clinical trials.
Lewis, whose investments are largely held through a portfolio company, Tavistock Group, is alleged to have shared information about publicly traded life science groups Solid Biosciences and Mirati Therapeutics, as well as beef producer Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) and a special purpose acquisition company, BCTG.
He is alleged to have disguised the extent of his stakes in cancer therapeutics company Mirati “through a pattern of false filings and misleading statements”.
A representative for Tavistock Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among those with whom Lewis is alleged to have shared information are personal assistants aboard his $250mn superyacht, the Aviva, and two of his private pilots.
The Tavistock Group, which is based in the Bahamas, where Lewis lives, has publicly-declared investments in more than 200 companies across 13 countries, including the US, Mexico and the Caribbean. The group says its art collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Gustav Klimt.
Described in SEC filings as Lewis’ “family office”, the Tavistock Group owns a vast array of properties in Florida, including hotels, restaurants and golf courses, as well as biotech, manufacturing and retail groups. Only one of the entities in which Lewis is alleged to have unlawfully traded — AAC — is listed among the group’s interests.
Delaware-incorporated BCTG Acquisition Corp, which was formed to invest in oncology-focused biotechs, was sponsored by Boxer Capital, an investment firm which is owned by Tavistock Group. It took a company called Tango Therapeutics public in 2021 in a $353mn Spac deal. Lewis is also listed as a beneficial owner of Mirati in regulatory filings.
Lewis, who was born in an east London pub, left school at 15, joined the family catering business and went on to build up his own restaurant business. He left the UK for the Bahamas in 1979.
The tax exile built his reputation as a currency speculator when he, like George Soros, bet against the pound in the build-up to Black Wednesday in 1992. However, he suffered a $1bn hit when Wall Street bank Bear Stearns, in which he was an investor, collapsed into a rescue by JPMorgan in 2008.
The currency trader’s profile grew when he took control of Tottenham, buying shares from British businessman Alan Sugar. In 2019, Spurs completed work on a £1.2bn stadium that has increased its revenues, but fans have complained that the club has failed to add much silverware to its trophy cabinet.
In February this year, Spurs agreed a 15-year partnership with car racing series Formula One to bring electric karting to the new stadium, highlighting how the club is trying to diversify beyond football revenues.
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