Tottenham owner Joe Lewis charged by feds with insider trading

British billionaire and Tottenham soccer team owner Joe Lewis has been indicted on charges of slipping confidential stock tips to his romantic partners, private pilots and other pals, U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.

Lewis exploited his entrée to various corporations to reap lucrative secrets, passed them on to people in his own inner circle and prompted them to trade on the knowledge, prosecutors said. They said the stock transactions made millions of dollars for Lewis and his cronies.

"As we allege, he used insider information as a way to compensate his employees and shower gifts on his friends and lovers," Manhattan-based U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a Twitter video announcing the insider trading case. "It's cheating, and it's against the law."