Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC, is to be pardoned by Donald Trump over a 2024 conviction for his part in a “brazen” insider trading scheme.
Lewis, 88, was fined $5m (£3.8m) and given three years probation by a New York judge last year but was spared jail time after pleading guilty to involvement in a plan that prosecutors said was designed to enrich his friends, lovers and employees.
Lawyers for the east London-born investor initially accused prosecutors of making an “egregious” mistake by charging him with multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.
But Lewis, who also owns the largest stake in one of the UK’s biggest operators of pubs, bars and restaurants, Mitchells & Butlers, later changed his plea to guilty after prosecutors agreed to a non-custodial sentence.
Lewis retained his right to change his plea again if a custodial sentence were imposed.
In a statement to the court at his sentencing last year, he said: “I made a terrible mistake. I broke the law. I am ashamed, sorry, and I hold myself accountable.”
The judge, Jessica Clarke, said Lewis’s circumstances did not warrant incarceration and imposed a $44m fine on his company, Broad Bay, on top of his $5m personal fine and probation.
But on Thursday, the Daily Telegraph was first to report that Trump now planned to pardon Lewis entirely. The Guardian understands that the fine will not be repaid to Lewis or his company.
Lewis said: “I am pleased all of this is now behind me, and I can enjoy retirement and watch as my family and extended family continue to build our businesses based on the quality and pursuit of excellence that has become our trademark.”
A source close to the family said: “Joe and the Lewis family are extremely grateful for this pardon and would like to thank President Trump for taking this action.
“Over his long business career, Joe has been a visionary, creating businesses across the world, which multiple generations of his family are now taking forward. There is so much more to the Joe Lewis story than this one event.”
Lewis already transferred his majority ownership interest in Tottenham to his family via a trust in 2022, the year before he was charged.
The north London football club is now overseen by Lewis’s daughter Vivienne, his son Charles, and Vivienne’s son-in-law Nick Beucher.
Details of the insider trading scheme were documented in a 29-page folder published by the US attorney for the southern district of New York in 2023.
Prosecutors accused Lewis of passing on share tips based on inside information to his employees, including his private jet pilot and his then 33-year-old girlfriend, Carolyn Carter, to allow them to make a profit from stock trading.
Official confirmation of the pardon from the US Department of Justice is expected this week.
