UK businessman Joseph Lewis and his alleged co-conspirators, Patrick O'Connor and Bryan Waugh, have been arrested and charged with insider trading securities fraud, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a release on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2023) UK businessman Joseph Lewis and his alleged co-conspirators, Patrick O'Connor and Bryan Waugh, have been arrested and charged with insider trading securities fraud, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a release on Wednesday.
"We allege that, for years, Joe Lewis abused his access to corporate boardrooms and repeatedly provided inside information to his romantic partners, his personal assistants, his friends and his pilots. Those folks then traded on that inside information - and made millions of Dollars in the stock market - because, thanks to Lewis, those bets were a sure thing," the release said.
Lewis, 86, is the principal owner of private investment firm Tavistock Group. Through his investments in certain companies, he controlled one or more board of director seats and also deputized employees to serve on various boards. Lewis received material, confidential company information from these employees and then allegedly misused it to provide stock tips to various people in his life, the release said.
In addition, Lewis also allegedly conspired with others to hide his ownership shares of the pharmaceutical company Mirati Therapeutics through false filings and misleading statements, which enabled him to exercise warrants in the company and reap vast financial gain, the release said.
O'Connor, 66, of Preston Hollow, New York, and Waugh, 64, of Lynchburg, Virginia, are pilots employed by Lewis who allegedly received stocks tips and funds from him to engage in insider trading, the release said.
Lewis has been charged with 13 counts of securities fraud under Title 15, three counts of securities fraud under Title 18 and three counts of conspiracy, the release added.
O'Connor and Waugh have each been charged with four counts of securities fraud under Title 15, three counts of securities fraud under Title 18 and one count of conspiracy, according to the release.
