Joe Lewis, the 88-year-old billionaire whose family owns Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur, has been pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump, giving Lewis a clean slate after his 2024 insider trading conviction.
Lewis, a British national who was born in London, has been on probation since his 2024 conviction after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud. One of his businesses, hedge fund Broad Bay, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud. In total, he and Broad Bay were ordered to pay a $50 million penalty.
Lewis was accused of providing his girlfriend and private-jet pilot with nonpublic stock tips about his portfolio companies for Tavistock Group, his private-equity firm.
“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,” Lewis said in a statement Thursday.
In a separate statement, a source close to the Lewis family thanked 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,” the source added. “This is why there is so much more to the Joe Lewis story than this one event.”
Under his conviction, Lewis was not allowed to travel to the U.S. Since his probation began, Lewis has been spending time in the Bahamas on his yacht, a 322-foot vessel named Aviva, as well as at a property in Argentina, a source familiar with the matter tells Front Office Sports.
An email to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for the federal government elicited an auto-response due to the federal government shutdown, which technically ended Wednesday night: “The appropriation that funds the Office of the Pardon Attorney has lapsed, and as a result, much of our staff has been furloughed and is currently out of the office. We will respond after funding has been restored.”
The pardon comes as Spurs—who are now controlled by a family trust after Lewis relinquished “significant control” in 2022—repeatedly beat back rumors that they are for sale. Four sources who work in European soccer recently told FOS it’s only a matter of time before the team is sold.
An attorney who represented Lewis in his insider trading case did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.
Lewis represents the third sports-related figure to receive a presidential pardon this month. Former Yankees and Mets star Darryl Strawberry was pardoned for tax evasion charges that date back to 1995, and trail runner Michelino Sunseri was pardoned of charges that he used a prohibited trail.
