Former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis pardoned by Donald Trump

Joe Lewis in the stands with (now former) Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy. Photo / Getty Images

The British billionaire was fined £4m for insider trading but, despite the US president’s intervention, will not be returning to the London club now run by his children.

Former Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis has received an official pardon from US President Donald Trump, but will not be making a return to the club.

Lewis was fined £4 million ($9.3m) last year after pleading guilty to insider trading, having handed ownership of Spurs to the Lewis Family Trust in 2022.

The Lewis family this year took full operational control of the club, following the departure of former chairman Daniel Levy, but 88-year-old Lewis will remain in retirement.

Tottenham will continue to be run by the next generation of the Lewis family – Lewis’ daughter Vivienne, his son Charles and Nick Beucher, the husband of Vivienne’s daughter – with non-executive chairman Peter Charrington and chief executive Vinai Venkatesham. Eric Hinson last month joined the club’s board as a non-executive director.

Lewis’ pardon was published by the White House and the British billionaire 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.”

According to the Financial Times, a White House official said Lewis had “requested a pardon so that he may receive medical treatment and visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the United States”. The official added Lewis, a UK citizen who lives in the Bahamas, “admitted he made a terrible mistake, did not fight extradition in the case, and paid a $5m fine”.

A source close to the Lewis family added: “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.”

Vivienne has been a regular at Spurs games since Levy’s departure and the Lewis family last month confirmed the injection of £100m into Tottenham, as first revealed by the Daily Telegraph. The family has pledged to prioritise sustained sporting success, with the club fifth in the Premier League table and 10th in the Champions League.

Lewis, who was born in London’s East End, was ranked 39th in the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of about £5 billion. Before his sentencing in April last year, Lewis said that he learnt as he grew up in England during World War II how “precious life is” and had devoted himself to finding a cure for “horrendous diseases”.

Trump has issued a number of pardons since returning to the White House, some of which have provoked controversy and criticism.

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