Tottenham Hotspur majority owner Joe Lewis has been charged in the US with 'brazen' insider trading.
In a sensational development late on Tuesday night, federal prosecutors alleged that the 86-year-old passed on inside information 'as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers'.
Tottenham have been approached for comment.
In a dramatic statement delivered by video, US Attorney Damian Williams said: 'My office, the Southern District of New York has indicted Joe Lewis, the British billionaire, for orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme.
'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 private pilots and his friends.