British billionaire Joe Lewis, 86, says he is ‘so embarrassed’ as he pleads GUILTY in insider trading case after surrendering himself to the FBI over ‘brazen’ scheme: ‘I knew what I was doing was wrong’

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire whose family trust owns a majority share in Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur, admitted he is ‘so embarrassed’ after pleading guilty to passing inside information to his private pilots and girlfriend on Wednesday.

The 86-year-old, whose fortune is estimated to be worth $7.6billion, confessed to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud at a hearing in a Manhattan courtroom. 

He had faced up to 45 years in prison. 

Lewis initially denied 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy last July after he was accused of passing on tips about companies to friends, personal assistants, private pilots and romantic partners. 

By ‘orchestrating’ the ‘brazen insider trading scheme’, Lewis enabled them – according to prosecutors – to make millions of dollars in profit. The alleged crimes took place between 2013 and 2021, when Lewis was Spurs’ owner.

The former Tottenham owner arrives at court in Manhattan on Wednesday morning

‘I am so embarrassed and I apologize to the court for my conduct,’ Lewis, the 316th-richest person in the world, said. 

‘While I possessed material non-public information about certain publicly traded companies, I agreed to make recommendations (to three other people to purchase stock in those companies), Lewis told Judge Jessica Clarke, per Bloomberg.

‘I knew at the time what I was doing was wrong and I’m so embarrassed.’

The pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh, were also charged and they, too, entered not guilty pleas last July.

Lewis is due to be sentenced on March 28. Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams called his actions ‘classic corporate corruption’.

As part of his deal with US authorities, Lewis has the right to appeal should he be sentenced to prison time, his lawyer David Zornow said. 

‘I knew at the time what I was doing was wrong and I’m so embarrassed,’ the 86-year-old said 

Tottenham described the charges against Lewis as a ‘legal matter unconnected with the club’

Lewis surrendered to the FBI before being released on $300million bond, secured by his superyacht Aviva – which is worth $250million – and personal aircraft. 

He was ordered to hand over his passport and told he could not leave the United States

The hearing last July saw the billionaire charged with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy. The charges each carry a maximum prison sentence of between five and 25 years.

O’Connor, from New York, and Waugh, from Virginia, each face seven counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Lewis’ Tavistock Group has investments across more than 200 companies and 13 countries, including ENIC which bought a controlling stake in Tottenham in 2001.

The 86-year-old is pictured alongside Spurs chairman Daniel Levy (right) in north London 

But Spurs responded to the scandal surrounding Lewis with a statement describing the charges as a ‘legal matter unconnected with the club.’

The ownership of ENIC passed to the Lewis Family Discretionary Trust in October last year and Lewis is not a beneficiary, meaning he no longer comes under Premier League rules, which bar owners who are being investigated by a criminal authority.

The family trust is managed by two independent professional trustees — Katie Louise Booth, a Briton living in the Bahamas, and Bryan Antoine Glinton, a Bahamian lawyer — on behalf of its beneficiaries and they have been listed as the persons of significant control at Spurs since October.