ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump on Thursday granted a pardon to Joe Lewis, a British billionaire who admitted to federal insider trading charges last year.

Lewis, whose family trust owns the English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur, was charged in 2023 for allegedly exploiting his access to corporate boardrooms for years and repeatedly passing confidential information to romantic partners, business associates, his private pilots, and others.

"Mr. Lewis admitted he made a terrible mistake, did not fight extradition in the case, and paid a $5 million fine," a White House official said to NBC News in a written statement.

According to the statement, the 88-year-old Lewis, who currently resides in the Bahamas, “requested a pardon so that he may receive medical treatment and visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the United States.”

Forbes estimates his wealth at $6.9 billion.

A representative close to the Lewis family said that Lewis and his relatives “are extremely grateful for this pardon and would like to thank President Trump for taking this action.”

On Monday, Trump pardoned his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani along with 76 others connected to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, including attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman, and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as his former chief of staff Mark Meadows. These pardons are considered mostly symbolic since none of them had been convicted of federal crimes.

The US president also commuted the sentence of former Representative George Santos last month. The New York Republican had been set to serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.