Billionaire Joe Lewis’ representatives deny Aussie beef leak

afr.com:

Two key representatives of Joe Lewis, the UK billionaire indicted last week for insider trading in the US, have denied leaking confidential information while on the board of Australian beef giant AACo.

Their answers were revealed in a response by Brisbane-based AACo to queries from the market operator on Tuesday morning, following charges being laid against Mr Lewis in New York last week.

Tavistock founder Joe Lewis leaves Manhattan federal court last week. AP

Mr Lewis, via his lawyer, has denied insider trading charges, which cover a range of stocks including AACo, and said they would be vigorously defended. The billionaire, who owns Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, is accused of having passed on information about AACo to his personal plane pilot.

Mr Lewis’ private company Tavistock has a 51 per cent holding in AACo, which owns almost 1 per cent of Australia’s land mass and has more than 400,000 cattle.

The indictment alleged a Tavistock representative who was an AACo board member told Mr Lewis about material losses suffered when cattle drowned in massive Queensland floods in 2019, before that information was made public. The director’s name was not disclosed.

The indictment alleged the “material” losses were discussed at a board meeting and then detailed in a stock market announcement the next day.

The ASX asked AACo if a member of the board shared information contained “within the announcement prior to its release with Mr Lewis or a representative of Mr Lewis”.

AACo responded on Tuesday: “Enquiries have been made of the two relevant board members. Based on the information available to AACo, including information provided by the two relevant board members, the answer is ‘no’.”

AACo said enquiries were continuing