Tottenham have sought to make it clear that Joe Lewis is no longer the club’s owner, following his arrest on Tuesday for insider trading by US federal prosecutors.
The 86-year-old Bahamas-based millionaire was released by a New York judge on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to allegations of providing insider trading tips. He faces a 19-count indictment – 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy.
He resigned from his officially declared role at Tottenham on 5 October 2022, a move that was also approved by the Premier League’s board. As a result, the Premier League does not believe it is necessary to take action against Spurs in response to the claims leveled against Lewis.
If convicted, the boy from London’s East End made good faces a lengthy jail sentence.
The change to the ownership structure at Spurs was not extensively reported on at the time but it has certainly come to feel more significant in the wake of events over the last 24 hours. Spurs are 86.58% owned by Enic and the investment company itself is 70.12% owned by the Lewis Family Trust. The Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, and certain members of his family hold the other 29.88% of Enic.
As of 5 October, Lewis ceased to be a part of the trust – even though it retained his name – or to be a beneficiary of it. Two trustees were appointed to run it on behalf of his family. They are Bryan Antoine Glinton and Katie Louise Booth; Bahamas-based lawyers with no background in football. The changes with regard to persons of “significant control” at Spurs were recorded at Companies House.
Lewis has always delegated day-to-day management of the club to Levy and rarely participates in decision-making. He appears infrequently on the club’s website, though he did receive a mention in the shareholder information on December 12, 2022.
“A discretionary trust of which certain members of Mr J Lewis’s family are potential beneficiaries ultimately owns 70.12% of Enic’s share capital,” it was stated. Previously, the Tottenham Hotspur website stated that Lewis was interested in Enic. It is unknown which members of Lewis’ family will profit. It’s also difficult to say how much or how little influence he has over them.
A source close to Lewis insisted that he only recently became aware of the charges being prepared against him in the US – and certainly well after the changes to the ownership structure at Spurs. Lewis is known to have reorganised the finances of many of his other investments. “It’s in line with what most rich 86-year-olds would do,” the source said.
After entering a not guilty plea at Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday Lewis was released on a bail of $300m (£230m), reportedly secured by a yacht and private aircraft equivalent to that amount. Lewis, and two of his pilots who are also facing charges, must remain in the US.
Spurs have described the scandal engulfing Lewis as a “legal matter unconnected with the club”. They are working hard, essentially, to distance themselves from Lewis. They had not taken issue, for example, with him being referred to in the media after 5 October as their owner. They have now.
Spurs stated at the time of the Companies House update that the club’s management would not change. “Tottenham Hotspur Limited has filed changes to its register of persons with significant control (PSCs) following a reorganization of the Lewis Family Trusts,” a club official stated. The company’s new PSCs are the officers of the family’s discretionary trust.”
Spurs have been hounded by takeover whispers for years, and it is unavoidable that another wave will emerge. However, the situation with Lewis has not changed significantly in this regard. Interested buyers or investors would still contact Levy or possibly Glinton and Booth, but not Lewis.
Lewis, who is worth an estimated £5bn, bought a controlling stake in Spurs from Alan Sugar in 2001 and he is synonymous with the club, even if he is rarely seen at matches or heard talking about the team. He is the figure in the background, the guy-behind-the-guy and the lurid details of the case against him are yet another headache for the club at a time when they are fighting to keep their star player, Harry Kane, from the clutches of Bayern Munich – among other issues.
Spurs do not seem to be close to replacing the managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, who resigned in April after losing an appeal in Italy against his 30-month ban from the game, while the incoming chief football officer, Scott Munn, has had his 1 July start date pushed back. There has been a hold-up with Munn’s current employer, The City Group.
Ange Postecoglou, the manager, is also expected to lose club captain Hugo Lloris, who has stated his desire for a fresh challenge. As Lewis’s lawyer, David Zornow, published a statement on Wednesday, it was easy to believe that Postecoglou’s crash education in life at Spurs was continuing.
“The government has made an egregious error in judgment by charging Mr Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment,” Zornow added. “Mr Lewis has come to the United States voluntarily to answer these ill-conceived charges, and we will vigorously defend him in court.”
Leave a Reply