Headlines
Trump pardons British billionaire Joe Lewis
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Donald Trump pardons Joe Lewis, a British billionaire convicted of insider trading, allowing him to retire and focus on family businesses.
By Jody Godoy and Sam Tabahriti
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned Joe Lewis, the British billionaire who pleaded guilty to insider trading in New York last year, a source close to Lewis' family said on Thursday.
Lewis, whose family trust controls a majority of London's Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, joins a list of wealthy individuals convicted of financial crimes who have received pardons from Trump in his second term, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Nikola founder Trevor Milton.
"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.
The Athletic reported the pardon earlier on Thursday.
Lewis passed inside information on his portfolio companies to two of his private pilots as well as friends, personal assistants and romantic partners, according to prosecutors. Lewis, who is in his late 80s, was sentenced to pay a $5 million fine and ordered to serve three years of probation.
Lewis collected inside information about four companies in which he had invested, and tipped friends and associates between 2019 and 2021, prosecutors said.
The companies included cancer therapy developer Mirati Therapeutics and BCTG Acquisition, a blank-check company that Boxer Capital sponsored and which took biotech company Tango Therapeutics public in a merger in 2021.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York and Sam Tabahriti in London; Editing by Conor Humphries)
Insider trading refers to the buying or selling of a publicly-traded company's stock based on non-public, material information about the company. It is considered illegal and unethical.
A pardon is an official forgiveness for an offense, allowing the individual to be relieved of the legal consequences of their actions. It is often granted by a head of state.
Probation is a court-ordered period during which an offender is allowed to remain in the community under supervision instead of serving time in prison. It often includes specific conditions.
A fine is a monetary penalty imposed by a court as punishment for an offense. It is often used as a form of punishment for minor crimes or violations.
A family trust is a legal entity created to hold and manage assets for the benefit of family members. It can provide tax benefits and protect assets from creditors.
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