Joe Lewis is Tottenham’s no-nonsense boss… the billionaire owner once ditched a player who was a nuisance on an end-of-season trip and is now fighting for justice amid insider trading charges
- Tottenham’s billionaire owner Joe Lewis is not a man who suffers fools gladly
- Lewis pleads ‘NOT GUILTY’ to 19 insider trading charges and posts $300m bond
- READ: Who is Joe Lewis? How did he make his fortune? What is his net worth?
One of the more revealing stories about Joe Lewis comes from Tottenham’s end-of-season trip to the Bahamas in 2013.
This was a rare step into the private world of the club’s billionaire owner, who invited manager Andre Villas-Boas and his squad to Albany, the luxury 600-acre resort he co-owns with close friend Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Timberlake. An idyllic piece of real estate frequented by the planet’s richest few.
According to sources, one player proved a nuisance on the jaunt, which ended with a friendly against Jamaica to open the Bahamas’ new national stadium.
He had taken a shine to the hospitality, the endless supply of luxury food and drink, and his behaviour was such that he was barred from heading into the nearby nightclub that had become popular with the group.
More than once the player had boldly poked fun at Lewis, who appeared to take it in good grace. Towards the end of the trip, the player spotted Lewis at the far end of his 323ft yacht, Aviva III, enjoying a glass of wine. He headed over to jokingly ‘grill’ the boss on the vintage of the tipple.
Tottenham’s billionaire owner Joe Lewis pleaded not guilty to 19 insider trading charges
The billionaire spends a lot of time on his luxury 323ft yacht, Aviva III (pictured)
Lewis owns a host of properties that are vast and are owned by some of the world’s richest
A smiling Lewis gave a detailed response before shrugging off the unimpressed player’s demand to ‘down it’. He would never kick a ball for Spurs again and was sold. The message was loud and clear: this is not a man to be crossed.
No expense had been spared on a trip that went down in folklore, even among millionaire footballers. Players were split between villas and boats and told to enjoy themselves. There were no training sessions. The only order was to be there for the game.
When it was time to return home, some wondered if the whole thing was a week-long sales pitch to persuade them to part with £3million for a property.
The destination certainly impressed Harry Kane, who has spent the last five summers there unwinding with family on its pristine white sands. A championship golf course designed by Els and which this year hosted the likes of Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, forms part of the attraction.
Regardless of how Kane’s future plays out, it is likely he will be back next year for more glamour and golf.
Lewis is a golf nut and played off a handicap of 14 a decade ago. At his Florida residence he’d regularly pair with neighbour Woods, who described him as ‘my business mentor’ and whose infamous late-night car accident in 2009 took place on the sprawling Isleworth Golf and Country Club estate.
Florida is a second home. Lewis had a waterfront residence within the Isleworth grounds, a complex he owns. His mansion there, which was listed for sale for £11.6m in late 2020, is based on the famous clubhouse at Augusta National – although much bigger.
Although Spurs fans may disagree, Lewis, 86, is clearly a man who enjoys spending money. After keeping fit by playing padel on the court on Aviva, he dresses from a wardrobe described by designer Andrew Langton as ‘bigger than my house in France’.
Lewis (left) is not known as an avid football fan and rarely attends Tottenham’s matches
Under his ownership, Tottenham have built a state-of-the-art stadium that cost £1billion
That largesse does not stretch to the football club he acquired from Alan Sugar for £22m in 2001, after taking an initial stake in 1991. That move, it is said, was encouraged by his former neighbour in the Bahamas, Sean Connery.
The £150m equity injection earlier this year was borrowed, rather than from his wealth. Such methodology has long been bemoaned by large sections of Spurs’ fanbase and is a far cry from many of their Big Six rivals.
Lewis’s near 30-year relationship with Daniel Levy has been key. They met when Levy, now 61, was in his 30s. From the early days Levy has served as Lewis’s trusted lieutenant. All these years on, he still refers to his boss as ‘Mr Lewis’.
Lewis made his money in currency trading – he was nicknamed ‘The Boxer’ after his namesake the heavyweight fighter Joe Louis, a nod to his aggressive style – and it was where he met Levy. Levy ran ENIC for Lewis – the firm which is a majority owner of Spurs – along with a number of other interests. He has been involved in the football operation from the start.
While fans may wish for the riches of a sovereign wealth fund, under the Levy and Lewis axis Spurs have managed to establish themselves as part of the elite without the benefit of heavy benefactor investment, even if the trophy cabinet remains bare.
There have previously been investments in other clubs – including Rangers and Slavia Prague, long before Manchester City and Chelsea followed suit with the multi-club model.
That link with the Czech side caused problems in 2006 when Spurs were drawn to face them in the UEFA Cup. Both clubs were reportedly quick to assure UEFA that they no longer shared an owner and that Lewis’s ENIC had reduced their shareholding to a minority interest.
When it comes to the day-to-day running of the club, insiders say Lewis is ‘hands off’. He is not known as a huge football fan and attends on average less than one game a season. He was, however, at the first game at the new stadium and the 2019 Champions League final. He prefers to watch matches on the numerous screens on board Aviva. That is not to say he doesn’t have an opinion.
Daniel Levy (left), Tottenham’s chairman, runs business on his behalf in what has been a long-running partnership which dates back to when they met with Levy then just a man in his 30s
Mail Sport has been told that on at least one occasion he contacted an official at the club to ask that they approach governing bodies and ask them to change the rules of the game. Although his precise request cannot be recalled, it was described as ‘outlandish’.
Lewis’s daughter, Vivienne, does take a keen interest in goings-on in north London. She attends games on a more regular basis than her father, and was pictured alongside Levy when Spurs hosted Brighton last season.
Vivienne is in regular contact with staff and is close to Kane – so much so that when the Kanes held a gender reveal party in 2020 ahead of the birth of their third child, Vivienne was one of the few invited on to the Zoom call.
Most of her father’s time is spent on Aviva, from which he conducts his business, although he is known to make the occasional trip to Argentina. His purchase of the land for his Patagonia ranch is seen as contentious and access to a lake within its grounds (all bodies of water in Argentina are public property) has been subject of legal wrangling.
When asked for a defining characteristic, one source described Lewis as ‘not one to back away from an argument’. While the response to the indictment so far has been short and punchy, it is indicative of what may follow.
Within two hours of the bombshell statement on Tuesday night, which revealed he had been indicted amid allegations of insider trading, there was a feisty response in the shape of a 132-word statement from his six-person counsel.
Lewis is seen as no-nonsense and once sold a player following an end-of-season trip run-in
Tottenham played a pre-season friendly in Singapore just hours after the indictment emerged
It accused the US government of making ‘an egregious error in judgment’ and called Lewis ‘a man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment’. It added he was already in the US and ready ‘to answer these ill-conceived charges’ before concluding ‘we will defend him vigorously in court’.
The indictment stretched to 29 pages, but the response was no more than two paragraphs.
It illustrated a similar style to that used in the aftermath of Winegate in 2013. Lewis, who has a £1billion art collection including works by Picasso, Matisse and Degas, is not a man who wastes words. He is shaped by his experiences, from war-hit Bow to the Bahamas beaches. Direct action is his preferred form of attack.
The Spurs player abruptly sold following his post-season escapades would testify to that.
WHO IS JOE LEWIS?
WHO IS JOE LEWIS?
Born in east London, Lewis is a billionaire businessman who took full control of Tottenham Hotspur in 2001 from Lord Sugar.
The 86-year-old is mainly based on a £113million yacht in the Bahamas and is worth around £5billion.
WHAT IS HE ALLEGED TO HAVE DONE?
A US District Attorney alleges that Lewis is guilty of ‘brazen insider trading’.
The claims are that Lewis used his status as an investor in a number of companies to glean confidential information which he knew would impact the company’s share price.
He is alleged to have passed that information on to a number of associates who then bought stock before the information was made public.
After the share price rose, they then sold their stocks for vast profits.
WHAT HAS HE SAID?
Lewis’s legal representatives have said he will vigorously defend himself and he has pleaded not guilty in court. They also took a swipe at the US government, branding the charges ‘an egregious error in judgment’.
WHAT ARE THE LIKELY PUNISHMENTS?
There are 19 counts in total. The maximum sentence for three of the counts is 25 years in prison.
Others carry a 20-year term, while the penalty for some is five years.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR TOTTENHAM?
While it is not helpful, the reality is that this should not impact on the club. Late last year, in a move some believe may have been pre-emptive, Lewis was effectively removed as a person in control of Tottenham. He had held more than 70 per cent of the shares in ENIC — the company that own Spurs.
But the club updated the company register to say: ‘A discretionary trust of which certain members of Mr J Lewis’s family are potential beneficiaries ultimately owns 70.12 per cent of the share capital of ENIC.’
There was tellingly zero fanfare or tribute to a man who had been in control since 2001 and the club briefed that little had changed. Tottenham have moved to distance themselves from the saga, stating: ‘This is a legal matter unconnected with the club.’ Officials are confident that there will be no impact.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING IN NEW YORK?
The crimes Lewis has been accused of are alleged to have been committed on the US stock market.
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