Octogenarian British billionaire Joe Lewis — wearing a patch over his right eye — dodged prison Thursday on his insider trading conviction after claiming he may die behind bars due to his “frail” condition.
Manhattan federal court Judge Jessica Clarke cut the 87-year-old a break after prosecutors said they were not “specifically” seeking to jail the former owner of London’s Tottenham Hotspur soccer club — who admitted to giving his girlfriend and pilots illegal stock tips they used to make more than $500,000 — due to his health troubles.
“You have before you a frail, 87-year-old man with significant health challenges whose condition has deteriorated since the indictment,” Lewis’ lawyer David Zornow said before the judge made her ruling.
The no-prison sentence means that the Bahamas-based Lewis will not spend a day behind bars even after admitting to what the feds called a “brazen” scheme to hook up his ex-girlfriend Carolyn Carter — Miss US Virgin Islands 2016 — and pilots Bryan Waugh and Patrick O’Connor with inside info.
The Bahamas-based investment magnate was allowed to walk free in July after posting a $300 million bond secured by his $250 million yacht — called “AVIVA” — and his personal plane.
“He chose to abuse the access and the information he received at the very top of the financial mountain and he did it over and over again,” prosecutor Jason Richman said during the hearing.
The prosecutor called the circumstances of Lewis’ age and health problems a “unique situation” and insisted in court that the no-prison outcome nonetheless sends the message that “even billionaires are not above the law.”
The feds also brought up that Lewis voluntarily turned himself in from overseas instead of fighting the US with what could have been a lengthy extradition battle.
Lewis sat at the defense table during the hearing with his arms folded across his lap. His right hand, pressed against his left arm, trembled throughout the proceeding — but the pace of the tremors picked up when his lawyer began arguing for why he should not go to prison.
Lewis was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine and his company Broad Bay Ltd was ordered to pay more than $45 million — but that’s a drop in the bucket for the financier, whose net worth is estimated at more than $6 billion. He will also be on probation for three years.
Lewis gave a brief speech during the sentencing hearing, calling the crime a “terrible mistake.”
“I broke the law, I’m ashamed, I’m sorry and I hold myself accountable,” he said from his seat at the defense table. He then asked the court to allow him “the time to make amends for the truth I have squandered.”
Lewis’ attorney explained the eye patch by saying his client was “experiencing very serious issues with his right eye” and planned to get surgery soon in England.
The lawyer referenced other health issues that Lewis is suffering from but did not get into specifics, citing the elderly man’s privacy.
The judge agreed that the health problems were serious enough that Lewis had a “high risk of falling” and suffering serious, potentially fatal injuries if locked up.
“It is clear to me that Mr. Lewis’ life would be at serious risk if he were to be incarcerated,” Clarke said.
Lewis, his family members and his attorney made significant — and unsuccessful — efforts to shield him from news cameras on Thursday. He covered his face with his hands on his way into the courthouse.
On the way out, despite the weather being a temperate 50 degrees, Lewis donned his bodyguard’s tan North Face winter jacket, pulled the hood over his head and slunk behind the guard and other supporters as they led him into a waiting car.
