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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Verri

Joe Lewis return to Tottenham ruled out despite Donald Trump pardon

Joe Lewis will not make a return to Tottenham after he receives a pardon from US President Donald Trump.

The 88-year-old was fined £4million last year but avoided prison after pleading guilty to insider trading.

Trump has made regular use of presidential pardons since returning to office in January and Lewis will be among the latest to benefit.

But there will be no change as a result at Spurs.

Lewis' children Vivienne (pictured) Charles are the key figures at Spurs along with Nick Beucher, Vivienne's son-in-law (AFP via Getty Images)

Lewis passed ownership of the club to the Lewis Family Trust in 2022 and has not been involved since then.

A source close to the Lewis family said: “Joe and the Lewis family are extremely grateful for this pardon and would like to thank President Trump for taking this action.

"Over his long business career, Joe has been a visionary, creating businesses across the world which multiple generations of his family are now taking forward. There is so much more to the Joe Lewis story than this one event.”

However, it is understood that this will not spark any change in how Spurs are run, with Lewis intending to remain retired even after his pardon.

The next generation of his family are now the controlling force at Spurs after taking an increasingly active role earlier this year.

Lewis' children Vivienne and Charles have been in attendance at matches this season and along with Nick Beucher, Vivienne's son-in-law, are the key figures at the helm.

The younger members of the family drove the decision to remove Daniel Levy in September and have overseen the implementation of a new boardroom structure at the club, led by chief executive Vinai Venkatesham.

Peter Charrington and Eric Hinson have been brought in as non-executive chairman and a non-executive director respectively.

There has been an emphasis on trying to deliver more regular success to Spurs and the club's majority owners injected £100m of new capital last month.

A source close to the family told Standard Sport at the time that this was "initial additional funding" and more money would be made available "as the club's management decides what's needed to deliver success".

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