Nov 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has

pardoned Joe Lewis, the British billionaire who pleaded guilty

to insider trading in New York last year, a source close to

Lewis' family said on Thursday.

Lewis, whose family trust controls a majority of London's

Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, joins a list of wealthy

individuals convicted of financial crimes who have received

pardons from Trump in his second term, including Binance founder

Changpeng Zhao and Nikola founder Trevor Milton.

"I am pleased all of this is now behind me, and I can enjoy

retirement and watch as my family and extended family continue

to build our businesses based on the quality and pursuit of

excellence that has become our trademark," Lewis said in a

statement.

The Athletic reported the pardon earlier on Thursday.

Lewis passed inside information on his portfolio companies

to two of his private pilots as well as friends, personal

assistants and romantic partners, according to prosecutors.

Lewis, who is in his late 80s, was sentenced to pay a $5 million

fine and ordered to serve three years of probation.

Lewis collected inside information about four companies in

which he had invested, and tipped friends and associates between

2019 and 2021, prosecutors said.

The companies included cancer therapy developer Mirati

Therapeutics and BCTG Acquisition, a blank-check company that

Boxer Capital sponsored and which took biotech company Tango

Therapeutics ( TNGX ) public in a merger in 2021.