UK Billionaire Joe Lewis Avoids Prison After Pleading Guilty to Insider Trading

‘Frail’ Lewis is sentenced in US insider-trading case
87-year-old must pay $5 million fine, restitution, judge says

Joe Lewis arrives at federal court in New York, on April 4.Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Ava Benny-Morrison, Bob Van Voris, and Chris Dolmetsch

April 4, 2024 at 7:55 PM UTC

Updated on

April 5, 2024 at 7:15 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

A visibly shaking Joe Lewis, the 87-year-old UK billionaire who pleaded guilty to insider trading, was spared jail time by a federal judge in New York.

US District Judge Jessica Clarke at a hearing Thursday sentenced Lewis to three-years’ probation and a $5 million fine. An attorney for Lewis said that any incarceration would be “catastrophic.”