The British billionaire Joe Lewis pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges he used an insider-trading scheme to enrich friends and associates, and apologized to a judge, saying he was “embarrassed” by his conduct. The 86-year-old, whose family trust controls a majority of Tottenham Hotspur, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud, as part of an agreement with the US attorney’s office in Manhattan. As part of the plea deal, Lewis has the right to appeal in the event he is sentenced to prison time, his lawyer David Zornow said. Last July, Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, accused Lewis of giving friends, including his personal pilots, assistants and romantic partners, inside information about companies in which he was an investor. “He used inside information as a way to compensate his employees, or shower gifts on his friends and lovers,” Williams said at the time. Addressing the US district judge Jessica Clarke, Lewis said he knew at the time that what he was doing was wrong. “I am so embarrassed and I apologize to the court for my conduct,” Lewis said. The pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan Waugh, were also charged. All three men entered not guilty pleas last July. Lewis was charged by federal prosecutors with 16 counts of securities fraud and three counts of conspiracy, for alleged crimes spanning from 2013 to 2021. Although Lewis will not plead guilty to the other counts under the terms of his deal, Clarke said she may consider them for sentencing purposes. Clarke set his sentencing for 28 March. Lewis founded the investment firm Tavistock Group and is worth $6.2bn, according to Forbes. Lewis has been allowed to remain free on a $300m bond secured by his yacht, named the Aviva, and private aircraft. The terms of his bail restrict Lewis from traveling outside the United States, boarding his yacht or traveling in his personal aircraft unless it was to attend a court hearing. Lewis is limited to traveling between New York, Florida and Georgia, where he owns property. Prosecutors have said Lewis gleaned inside information about four companies in which he had invested through his hedge fund and tipped friends and associates between 2019 and 2021. The companies, according to prosecutors, included Mirati Therapeutics and BCTG Acquisition, a blank-cheque company that his hedge fund founded and took Tango Therapeutics public in a merger in 2021. Lewis hid the size of his holdings in Mirati by investing through a trust and a shell company registered in the name of his granddaughter and an employee, according to prosecutors. Williams has called Lewis’s conduct “classic corporate corruption”.