You know the old saying, “Behind every great fortune there is a great crime.” Many, if not most, billionaires have financial skeletons in their closets and 86-year-old Tottenham Hotspur majority owner Joe Lewis is no different. His life story is certainly one of “corporate crime” or so-called “white collar crime”.
In July this year, Lewis was accused of passing on inside information relating to his portfolio of companies to colleagues, business partners, friends and even people he was dating in order to enrich them. Joe Lewis has today publicly come forward and admitted wrongdoing and his lawyers have entered a plea of guilty.
“I am deeply embarrassed and apologise to the court for my conduct,” Lewis told US District Judge Jessica Clarke. Lewis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud.
The plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan includes the right to appeal if he is sentenced to prison, according to his legal team. The US federal prosecutors charged Lewis with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy.
The London-born businessman is the head of ENIC, a company owned by his family trust. ENIC, a subsidiary of the Tavistock Group (Lewis’ private equity firm with over 200 assets in 13 countries), has owned Tottenham since 2001.
ENIC, which is owned by the Lewis Family Trust, is a subsidiary of the Tavistock Group.
Although Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy makes most of the football decisions at THFC, Lewis is known to play a very important role at the club. He certainly has a big influence on Levy and the club itself.
Forbes, in its latest estimate, estimates that THFC is worth £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion).
According to figures published in the Sunday Times Rich List, Lewis’s net worth was £5.096 billion last year alone, an increase of £811 million since 2022. Joe Lewis, who started life as the son of a London pub owner, will be sentenced for his crimes on 28 March.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He is also the author of “The Transatlantic Transition: How the English Premier League Redefined Football in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: No: You Can’t Get Free Tickets Without Tickets”: “Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry”.
He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He appears regularly on NTD News and WGN News Now and writes for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter.