MANHATTAN (CN) — Joe Lewis, British billionaire investor and former owner of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club, was sentenced in New York federal court on Thursday afternoon to three years of probation for tipping confidential business information to his inner circle.
Lewis originally pleaded not guilty to securities-fraud charges. Instead of any serving any time behind bars, the aging 87-year-old billionaire agreed to pay a $5 million fine and to self-deport to the Bahamas on probation.
Lewis wore a black eye patch over a bandage on his right eye in court on Thursday. His right hand trembled rhythmically during the sentencing hearing.
Defense attorney David Zornow said that given Lewis' age and crumbling health, federal incarceration “would be catastrophic.”
“You have before you a frail, 87-year-old man with significant health challenges, whose condition has only deteriorated since the indictment,” Zornow said. “His anguish is palpable. He knows that he and he alone is at fault here. And he is deeply contrite.”
U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke, a Biden appointee, agreed that a prison sentence would be dangerous for the octogenarian defendant.
“Mr. Lewis is at a high risk of falling and sustaining serious, if not life-threatening, injuries as a result of a fall,” she said. “Because of these conditions, it is clear to me that Mr. Lewis’ life would be at serious risk if he were to be incarcerated.”
Lewis read a brief statement expressing remorse for the securities fraud.
“Your honor, I’m here today because I made a terrible mistake,” he said softly. “I broke the law. I’m ashamed, sorry, and I hold myself accountable.”
Under a plea deal with federal prosecutors, he faced a statutory maximum of up to 45 years in prison on three counts — with an expected downward variance due to mitigating factors.
Despite originally pleading not guilty, Lewis ultimately reversed course and pleaded guilty to insider trading in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in January — six months after he was charged with more than a dozen criminal counts for tipping nonpublic, inside information to his girlfriend, pilots and other close personal cohorts.
Pursuant to an agreement with federal prosecutors, Lewis and his company, Broad Bay Limited, agreed to pay $50 million in financial penalties and to plead guilty to two counts of securities fraud and a conspiracy charge for insider trading in a superseding indictment.
In a sentencing letter, prosecutors advised Clarke that U.S. Probation Office sentencing guidelines called for Lewis, a citizen of the United Kingdom and resident of the Bahamas, to serve 18 months to two years in prison.
Still, at sentencing on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richman said prosecutors believed that the “significant mitigating factors” of Lewis’s age and declining health warrant a below-guidelines sentence. He noted that Lewis had surrendered to U.S. authorities rather than dodging the case for the remainder of his life through an extended extradition battle.
In a sentencing submission, his attorneys requested the judge impose a term of three years' probation and a $5 million fine.
At his January plea hearing, Lewis admitted that he agreed in 2019 to share secrets about publicly traded companies with several individuals. He told Clarke that he was “so embarrassed" for his conduct.
Prosecutors said afterward that both Lewis and his company, Broad Bay Limited, would pay $50 million in penalties — the largest financial penalty for insider trading in a decade.
According to federal prosecutors, Lewis’ employees, romantic partners and friends reaped in millions in illegal profits from tips related to the stocks of Solid Biosciences, Mirati Therapeutics, Australian Agricultural Company, and BCTG Acquisition Corporation.
According to the terms of the plea deal, Lewis agreed to cooperate with prosecutors’ ongoing investigation and said he would not challenge any sentence that doesn't impose a prison term.
Lewis’ attorneys advised the judge that he in process of settling a parallel civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, in which he agreed to an injunction and maximum civil penalties.
Patrick O’Connor, one of Lewis' pilots and a co-defendant in the indictment, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy and securities fraud.
Another pilot, Bryan “Marty” Waugh, has maintained his innocence and is set to stand trial in June.
With a fortune that Forbes estimates at $6.3 billion, Lewis has investments in real estate, biotechnology, energy, agriculture and sports.
He bought Tottenham, one of England’s most storied soccer clubs, in 2001. The team is now owned by a family trust.
Lewis’ Tavistock Group has stakes in more than 200 companies around the world, according to its website. His art collection features works by Picasso, Matisse, Degas and more. His business connections include Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Timberlake, with whom he built a Bahamian oceanside resort that opened in 2010.
Lewis’ $300 million bond last July was $50 million greater than the $250 million bond for embattled former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, which the Department of Justice referred to in December 2022 as "the largest ever pretrial bond."
The $300 million bond was secured by Lewis' 323-foot superyacht named the Aviva, and a private aircraft. The case was handled by the Southern District of New York’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.
Follow @jruss_jruss
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
Hunter Biden appeals April 12, 2024 -
-
-
Southern California bird smuggler sentenced to time served April 12, 2024