Joe Lewis – From humble beginnings in London’s East End to billionaire insider trader
Former Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis has been sentenced in the US for orchestrating an insider trading scheme.
The 87-year-old British citizen, resident in the Bahamas, learned about public companies after making large investments and tipped off lovers, friends, and two of his private pilots, allowing them to make millions, prosecutors said.
In January, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud, admitting in court he had known he was breaking the law.
Prosecutors said he “believed he was above the law – that he had achieved a level of wealth and stature that relieved him from having to operate by the same rules that apply to everyday investors”.
On Thursday in New York, he was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $5m (£4m) fine.
Pic: AP
East End beginnings
Joe Lewis was born to a Jewish family in the East End of London in February 1937, living above a pub in Bow’s Roman Road.
Mr Lewis left school at 15 to help run his father’s catering business, Tavistock Banqueting.
After starting as a waiter, Mr Lewis oversaw the firm’s expansion into the tourist market, targeting American visitors with “medieval banqueting” experiences at themed restaurants across the West End.
He gave Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl his first job and also boasted the Hanover Grand nightclub as part of his portfolio, where a colleague once described him as a “natural schmoozer”.
In 1979, he sold the business, which made him a multi-millionaire and saw him move to the Bahamas.
The Tavistock Group he founded a few years earlier has since gained more than 200 assets across 13 countries, including Tottenham and the UK pub chain Mitchells & Butlers.
Having ventured into foreign exchange (FX) trading, Mr Lewis’s fortune sky-rocketed in the early 1990s when he allegedly teamed up with US billionaire George Soros to bet the pound would crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (EERM).
Three years after Black Wednesday increased his wealth, he reportedly did the same by shorting the Mexican Peso.
Joe Lewis (centre) in the stands with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in 2011. Pic: PA
Spurs takeover from Sir Alan Sugar
In the late 1990s, Lewis took a financial interest in football when his son Charlie and then-protege Daniel Levy founded the English National Investment Company (ENIC).
While Charlie focused on restaurants, Mr Levy was put in charge of football.
Before buying fellow East Ender Sir Alan Sugar’s controlling stake in Spurs for £22m in 2001, the company invested in sides including Slavia Prague, Vicenza, AEK Athens and Rangers.
The Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London. Pic: Reuters
ENIC is majority-owned by Joe Lewis through his company Tavistock Group and, after holding a majority stake in Tottenham for more than two decades, his shareholding is now owned by a trust on behalf of his family.
With an estimated net worth of almost £5bn, his other sporting interests are golf and sailing.
He sponsors the Tavistock Cup, counts golfers Tiger Woods and Ernie Els among his friends, and bought a 321ft superyacht called Aviva in 2017.
Superyacht Aviva owned by Joe Lewis moored on the River Thames in central London
‘Doesn’t like talking to people’
Despite ostentatious levels of wealth, he is reportedly shy. His daughter Vivienne, from his first marriage, once told a newspaper he “doesn’t like to talk to people” because “it aggravates him”.
His nickname “The Boxer” comes only from the similarity between his name and that of American boxing legend Joe Louis.
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He told the New York Times: “One of the rewards of your success is the quiet enjoyment of it. Being on the front page of a newspaper doesn’t allow that.”
His business decisions haven’t always been a success, however.
He suffered up to $1bn (£774m) in losses after US investment bank Bear Stearns collapsed during the financial crisis. His takeover of the prestigious British auction house Christie’s also failed.
More recently his Lake Nona development in Orlando Florida lost a deal with Disney, which would have seen 2,000 employees moved there.
As an art collector, he has acquired works by the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Freud and Bacon.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former “thug” and “pit bull”, has been accused of lying about a phone call he says he made to the former US president about payments to ex porn star Stormy Daniels.
Cohen, a lawyer who worked for the Trump Organisation from 2006 to 2017, has been giving evidence in the case about hush money payments to Ms Daniels – in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, called into question an important detail – a phone call made by Cohen to Trump’s assistant, Keith Schiller, on 24 October 2016.
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Cohen, 57, has maintained that during that call he spoke to Trump (who was either given the phone by Mr Schiller or placed on loudspeaker – we don’t know which) and told him he had paid Ms Daniels $130,000 in hush money on his behalf.
But Mr Blanche called this into doubt – showing the jury a number of interactions suggesting Cohen was in contact with Mr Schiller about a different issue at the same time, namely that he was receiving harassing phone calls and texts from a 14-year-old child.
“That was a lie – you did not talk to President Trump on that night, you talked to Keith Schiller about what we just went through,” Mr Blanche said.
Cohen said that, based on his records, he believes he spoke to Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter.
“We are not asking for your belief,” Mr Blanche said. “This jury does not want to hear what you think happened.”
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Donald Trump in court on Thursday. Pic: Reuters
That exchange was part of several hours of questioning which apparently sought to paint a picture of Cohen as someone who is eager to see his former boss behind bars.
Mr Blanche played jurors audio clips of Cohen saying the case “fills me with delight” and that imagining Trump and his family in prison made him feel “giddy with hope and laughter”.
“Does the outcome of this trial affect you personally?” Mr Blanche asked.
“Yes,” Cohen replied. He is due to return to the witness stand on Monday.
Michael Cohen (right) was Donald Trump’s fixer. Pic: AP
Cohen worked as the former president’s fixer. He once described himself as Trump’s “spokesman, thug, pit bull and lawless lawyer”.
He once said he would take a bullet for his boss and admitted at the end of questioning on Tuesday that he “violated my moral compass” while working for Trump.
Hush money payouts are not illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide it – a claim he denies.
US
Ex-US army sergeant convicted of killing Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 pardoned by Texas governor
A former US army sergeant who killed a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 has been issued a full pardon.
Daniel Perry was convicted of murder after shooting an armed demonstrator, 28-year-old Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran, during the nationwide anti-racist protests that swept the US and the world in 2020.
He was being held in a state prison on a 25-year sentence since his conviction in 2023.
That was until Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a full pardon for the former soldier on Thursday.
Mr Abbott announced the pardon just minutes after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said it had made the unanimous recommendation that Perry be pardoned and given back his firearm rights.
The Republican governor had previously ordered the board, which he appoints, to review Perry’s case and said he would sign a pardon if recommended.
Mr Abbott’s demand for a review followed pressure from former Fox News star Tucker Carlson who, on national television, urged the Republican politician to intervene following Perry’s conviction.
As far back as April of last year, Mr Abbott tweeted: “I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry.”
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Perry was jailed after prosecutors successfully used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist and someone who may commit violence again.
Mr Foster, who is white, had been legally carrying an AK-47 while marching in a Black Lives Matter protest when Perry killed him.
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July 2020: Protesters flee gunfire in Texas
Perry was working as a ride-share driver in July 2020 and turned his car into a street crowded with demonstrators, shot Mr Foster, and drove off.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Perry could have simply drove off without opening fire.
Witnesses testified that they did not see Mr Foster raise his gun but Perry’s representatives in court claimed Mr Foster did raise his rifle, leaving the former soldier with no choice.
Perry, who is also white, did not take the witness stand and jurors deliberated for two days before finding him guilty.
In a statement posted on X, Mr Abbott said: “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney.”
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to two head-to-head live televised debates in June and September.
After months of speculation about whether the traditional presidential debates would go ahead, the US broadcaster CNN has announced that a primetime debate will take place at its global headquarters in Atlanta on 27 June at 9pm.
ABC will host a second debate, scheduled for 10 September, just under two months before the election on 5 November.
For weeks, former President Trump has been using social media and rallies to goad President Biden into taking part in a debate.
“Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace,” Mr Trump has repeatedly said.
Amid speculation over whether President Biden would be prepared to expose himself to the pressure and jeopardy of a live debate, the president used a radio interview in late April to confirm he would be “happy” to.
“I am happy to debate him,” he said. “I am, somewhere. I don’t know when,” he told SiriusFM radio host Howard Stern.
That revelation prompted back-channel conversations between staff from the two campaigns to agree a format.
The debates will bypass the presidential debate commission that traditionally coordinates the process.
Biden and Trump during a presidential debate in Nashville in 2020. Pic: Reuters
Mr Biden’s team have insisted that the two debates do not include a live audience, a move the Trump team are understood to have agreed to.
An hour before CNN announced that it would host the first debate, President Biden released a clip on X confirming his willingness to take part.
“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate,” President Biden said.
“Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald.”
In a jibe at Mr Trump’s court case in New York, which doesn’t sit on Wednesdays, Mr Biden added: “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”
‘He can’t put two sentences together’
Donald Trump responded with a lengthy statement on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
“Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced – He can’t put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far,” he said.
“It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy which is allowing the World to ‘Catch on Fire.'”
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The former president continued: “I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.
“I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!'”
The summer and autumn clashes, to be moderated by as-yet unannounced star anchors, promise to be box office occasions with huge jeopardy for both candidates.
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