Inside Tottenham owner Joe ‘The Boxer’ Lewis’ £5bn fortune from yacht to Picassos as he faces insider trading charges
HAVING built up a fortune worth £5billion, it comes as little surprise Joe Lewis has a taste for the finer things in life.
But the Spurs chief, 86, has had to leave his floating palace in the Bahamas and head to the US to face allegations of orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading scheme.
Lewis forked out £22million in 2001 to buy a controlling stake in Tottenham Hotspur from Lord Sugar.
Overall, Lewis is worth $6.1 billion (£4.7million), according to Forbes magazine.
But the self-made billionaire has also found plenty else to splash the cash on over the years, having made his fortune largely through foreign exchange and investment.
After quitting school at the age of 15, he went to work for his dad’s catering company.
One of the organisation’s restaurants included a fancy dress-themed eatery in London called the Northumberland Grand, while Lewis also gave Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock founder Robert Earl his first job.
Lewis managed a super club called The Talk of the Town – where the likes of Frank Sinatra performed – in the 1960s, and granted girl group The Nolans their first live show.
He then got a taste for business and took over the firm – turning it into a string of restaurants before flogging it in 1979 for a whopping £30million.
Lewis used his cash influx to invest in currency trading and was subbed The Boxer in a nod to his wild success and power in the investment ring.
One particular investment on Black Wednesday in September 1992 helped elevate him to uber-rich status, as he successfully bet on the Pound crashing out of the European Exchange Rate as Britain tried to align it with other Euro countries.
He became a billionaire overnight, and the financial magic trick worked again years later with a big short against the Mexican peso.
Along the way, Lewis founded Bahamas-based investment firm Tavistock Group – which he has propelled into one of the most dominant private equity firms in the world.
But it’s not been all work and no play for Lewis, who has spent eye-watering sums on luxury items.
Lewis, who was born in London, spends most of his days in the Bahamas as a tax exile.
He set to Tavistock Group there in a bid to escape UK tax laws.
And his superyacht worth £190million, which can house up to 16 guests, is fully equipped for the Caribbean lifestyle.
Aviva’s exterior relaxation area features a circular set of lounging pads on the sun deck, as well as smaller lounging pads towards the yacht’s bridge.
A cool swimming platform can also open up into the sea, which means you can have your own beach area with Aviva’s tenders coming out of side doors.
It even has a speedboat and jet skis on board, and measures up as the 46th longest yacht in the world with a full-size indoor tennis court – the first ever installed on a yacht.
German-built Aviva took three years to complete, and can reach a top speed of 20 knots.
It can also be used to entertain, just as it was when he invited the Spurs team on board in 2013 during their tour of the Bahamas.
But it’s not just a place for relaxing, as Lewis also uses it as a floating office.
He previously said: “Communication and information are critical to me.
“To be effective, I need reliable phones and internet, these have improved much over the past few years, but, it is too expensive, too slow and not consistently reliable.
“Aviva is more than an office; it is also my home for much of the year. So for me, it is relaxing working from home, wherever Aviva may be in the world.”
Aviva is also home to much of Lewis’ vast private art collections – one of the most expensive in the world.
It features original works by celebrated artists Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Francis Bacon, as well as sculptures by Moore, Degas and Botero.
His collection is reported to be worth a staggering $1billion (£777million).
Last year, Lewis made history by selling David Hockney’s 1972 piece, ‘Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Tool Figures)’.
Having owned the piece since 1995, Lewis auctioned it off for £70.3million – setting a new record for artwork by a living artist.
On his superyacht, Lewis has Francis Bacon’s “Triptych 1974 – 1977” displayed in golden frames – understood to be worth around £70million.
Meanwhile, Lewis also sold off his stunning Windermere mansion in 2020.
Sitting in a sprawling six-acre complex, the Georgian estate boasts views of Lake Bessie.
It has a private driveway adorned with lush plants and trees, and giving the home and secluded vibe.
The mansion itself is filled with ornate details – and includes a large stone patio with a pool in the middle.
In the study, a gold chandelier hangs from ceiling while a fireplace brings the room together.
Lewis also bought a huge stake in Tottenham Hotspurs back in 2001.
His family members are part of a trust that owns 70 per cent of ENIC – the company that owns 86.5 per cent of Spurs.
The majority stake in the club, adding up to 86.58 per cent of the total shareholding, is owned by ENIC Sports Inc, registered in the Bahamas.
Until October, Lewis held 70.12 per cent of the ENIC stake, although the investment was through the Lewis Family Trusts.
But on October 5 2022, Lewis ceased to be a “person of significant control” and no longer has an active role.
His stake was split between two associates, Miami born Bryan Glinton, a Bahamas-based longstanding legal adviser to Lewis’ Tavistock group, and British-born asset manager Katie Booth.
Under the formal transfer of shares, the pair now have the powers previously held by Lewis including the “right to appoint and remove directors with control over the trustees of a trust”.
The remaining 29.88 per cent of the ENIC stake is held by Daniel Levy “and certain members of his family”, again, via a discretionary trust.
That leaves 13.42 per cent owned by “small shareholders” – fans rather than companies.
It comes as Lewis surrendered to the US authorities in Manhattan on Wednesday.
US Attorney Damian Williams has accused the Spurs chief of “classic corporate corruption” by orchestrating a “brazen” insider trading scheme.
He claims the British billionaire shared confidential information with his romantic partners, personal assistants, private pilots and pals.
The tips enabled Lewis’ associates to reap millions of dollars in profit, prosecutors said.
Mr Williams said: “Now, none of this was necessary. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man.
“But as we allege, he used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or to shower gifts on his friends and lovers.
“That’s classic corporate corruption. It’s cheating, and it’s against the law. Laws that apply to everyone, no matter who you are.
“That’s why Joe Lewis has been indicted and will face justice here in the Southern District of New York.”
But Lewis’ lawyer David Zornow said prosecutors “made an egregious error” in charging him and said his client had come to the US voluntarily to defend himself against the charges.