Joe Lewis, sentenced to three years probation for insider trading, joins the ranks of billionaires who’ve been convicted of a crime yet managed to hold onto their fortunes.
The Tavistock Group founder, 87, was spared jail time Thursday by a federal judge in New York who cited his age and health issues. In his plea deal, Lewis waived his right to appeal unless he was sentenced to prison. He was also fined $5 million (R94m).
The verdict caps one of the most turbulent periods of Lewis’ career, tainting the rags-to-riches tale of a high-school dropout from east London who forged a global empire that today spans five-star hotels, private lenders and enclaves for the wealthy.
But it hasn’t dented his wealth. Lewis has a fortune of $7.3 billion, making him the world’s 355th-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That total is higher than just before he was charged with insider trading in July, partly from an all-cash buyout deal earlier this year that cemented eight-fold gains for one of the firms at the centre of the insider-trading case.
“Mr Lewis is grateful that the court has imposed a probationary sentence that considers his age and health issues,” said his spokesman, Mark Herr. “As Mr. Lewis has previously said he regrets the events that led to the day.”
Lewis isn’t the only person who’s been convicted of a crime and stayed rich.
Thomas Kwok, the former chairman of Hong Kong real estate giant Sun Hung Kai Properties, was sentenced in 2014 to five years in jail for conspiring to corrupt a local official. Kwok, 72, is worth $11bn today, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.
Junk-bond king Michael Milken, now 77 and worth $5.3bn, spent about two years in jail in the early 1990s after he pleaded guilty to securities fraud, becoming a symbol of Wall Street greed. He was granted a full pardon in 2020 by then-president Donald Trump - who is himself facing several civil and criminal cases as he campaigns for re-election.
And crypto tycoon Changpeng Zhao, with a fortune of $43.5bn, could soon join them after pleading guilty to criminal charges including money laundering and violating US sanctions. He’s expected to be sentenced later this month.
At least one Wall Street bank severed ties to Lewis in the fallout from his case. Lewis also faces curbs on his activities in US public markets as part of his guilty plea, but can remain the owner of Tavistock Group, which recently forged ahead with succession plans.
Lewis relocated to Florida while awaiting his sentencing in New York but will likely now return to a lifestyle away from the public eye in the Bahamas, the low-tax territory he moved to in the late 1970s as his fortune began to grow.
“This is a result that both sides can be happy about,” said Allon Lifshitz, an attorney at New York firm Cohen & Gresser and a former US federal prosecutor. “The government got a swift conviction of someone who was overseas and could have challenged extradition, but he pled guilty quickly.”
For the past nine months, to adhere to his bail restrictions, Lewis hasn’t been able to use his prized superyacht, Aviva, which has long served as his part residence, part office.
Once Lewis pays his fine, the US government will release its hold over the 322-foot vessel, where the billionaire has previously showcased works from his private art collection, which is worth more than $1 billion and includes pieces by Picasso, Freud, Klimt and Degas.
“One of the rewards of your success is the quiet enjoyment of it,“ he told the New York Times in 1998 in a rare interview. “Being on the front page of newspapers doesn’t allow that.”
WASHINGTON POST