British billionaire Joe Lewis has surrendered to U.S. authorities in Manhattan and is expected to appear in court later on Wednesday to face insider trading charges, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused Lewis, whose family trust controls a majority of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, with orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading scheme by passing tips about companies in which he invested to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners.
The tips enabled Lewis’ associates to reap millions of dollars in profit, prosecutors said.
Lewis’ lawyer David Zornow said prosecutors “made an egregious error” in charging Lewis, 86, and said his client had come to the United States voluntarily to defend himself against the charges.
Separately on Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil insider trading case against Lewis and three other defendants. The SEC said Lewis’ then-girlfriend Carolyn Carter and longtime private pilots Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh reaped more than $545,000 in illegal profit from his tips.
(Reuters)