Last week Joseph Lewis, the billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur, pleaded guilty to insider trading in foreign exchange. Guy Flintham was charged by the FCA in connection with financial fraud. In addition, a number of illegal platforms have been blocked by regulators. The specific news is as follows:
The owner of Tottenham Hotspur, Joseph Lewis, has pleaded guilty to insider dealing
Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Tottenham Hotspur owner Joseph Lewis pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud through insider trading.
According to the allegations contained in the indictment, alternate information, and other documents and statements before the court:
Joseph Lewis is a billionaire businessman and investor and the principal owner of the Tavistock Group, an international private investment organization. Because Joseph Lewis has invested in a number of companies, he holds one or more board seats in those companies and entrusts employees to serve on the boards of various companies. Over a period of several years, Joseph Lewis obtained multiple non-public material information about these companies through these employees, repeatedly misused and misappropriated this confidential information, and provided stock tips to various individuals in his life, including his employees, romantic partners, and friends, who traded on the information he provided. Made great personal gains.
In addition, under the direction and control of Joseph Lewis, Broad Bay Company and other corporate entities engaged in a scheme to hide his ownership and control of a pharmaceutical company through a pattern of false filings and misleading statements. He and the companies he controls are required to file a list of holdings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because he owns more than 10 percent of Mirati Therapeutics' stock. He and his companies reported to the SEC that he owned between 16 and 19.99 percent of Mirati's stock, but in fact he controlled more than 19.99 percent of Mirati's stock through offshore shell companies and other entities.
As a result of the false disclosure of his ownership, the corporate entity under the direction and control of Joseph Lewis was able to exercise the warrants in Mirati and thus reap substantial financial benefits. On at least 13 separate occasions, from around November 2013 to around November 2017, Lewis and certain entities under his control misrepresented in filings with the SEC that Mirati's total holdings were incorrect. Around 2018, Mirati's stake in the offshore entity was sold and about $25 million of the proceeds were transferred to accounts controlled by Broad Bay companies.
As part of Broad Bay's plea agreement, Joseph Lewis and Broad Bay agreed to resign and relinquish control of board seats and participation in board meetings of any U.S.-listed company, and will cease ownership of certain investments during a five-year probationary period. To cooperate with the government's ongoing investigation and prosecution, as well as to pay a $50 million financial penalty. That includes $15,586,021 in fines and $34,413,979 in forfeiture.
