Two AACo directors appointed by billionaire Joe Lewis did not leak key market data, company says

Two directors employed by billionaire AACo investor Joe Lewis did not leak market sensitive information to him prior to its release, the company has told the ASX.

British billionaire Joe Lewis is escorted by his attorneys after leaving Manhattan Federal Court on July 26, 2023 in New York City.

Two AACo directors representing British billionaire Joe Lewis’s interests on the company’s board did not leak market sensitive data at the heart of insider trading claims to him or any of his representatives, the company has told the ASX.

Mr Lewis, who is the controlling shareholder of the $900m cattle firm, has been indicted for insider trading in the US and faces charges including sharing confidential information with his personal pilot about the impact of the 2019 Queensland floods on the company.

Mr Lewis’s AA Trust owns a majority per cent stake in AACo, and at the time of the meeting AACo directors Dr Shehan Dissanayake and Neil Reisman were both employees of Mr Lewis’s Bahamas-based Tavistock Group.

Mr Dissanayake remains an employee of Tavistock while Mr Reisman left Tavistock in mid-2019 according to LinkedIn, but remains on the AACo board.

AACo board member Sarah Gentry is also a Tavistock employee however was appointed to the AACo board in October 2022 - well after the board meeting in question.

The Australian asked AACo whether all directors had been queried about the alleged leak however a company representative said it would not be elaborating beyond what was released to the ASX.

In charges filed in the US – and denied “vigorously” by Mr Lewis through a representative – the billionaire has been accused of “brazen insider trading’’.

In the charges brought by New York Southern District Attorney Damian Williams, it is alleged that using “information stolen by Joseph Lewis”, the billionaire’s employees and friends were “collectively able to make millions of dollars by insider trading in the stocks of Solid Biosciences, Mirati Therapeutics, Australian Agricultural Company, and BCTG Acquisition Corporation”.

The insider trading allegations outlined by Mr Williams about AACo relate to the devastating floods in 2019 that resulted in the deaths of about 43,000 cattle, accounting for 10 per cent of its herd.

It is alleged that a the day before AACo announced a material financial hit from the floods a board member advised Mr Lewis of the likely scale of losses.

Mr Lewis then shared this information to one of his pilots with the advice for him and Mr Lewis’s other private pilot to sell their shares, the claim alleges.

The ASX asked AACo “Did a member of the AAC board share information contained within the announcement prior to its release with Mr Lewis (or a representative of Mr Lewis)?’’

AACo told the ASX 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’. Enquiries are continuing.’’

AACo also noted that the relevant board meeting referred to in the indictment occurred at 2pm on Sunday, February 10, 2019.

ASX records show that AACo released the relevant information about the Queensland floods to the market at 8.03am on the following Monday morning, before trade in the stock had opened.

AACo shares fell 12.3 per cent that day.

Bermuda-based Mr Lewis, who made his money in currency trading, has previously said through his lawyer that he had travelled to the US to face these “ill-conceived charges” and that they would be defended “vigorously in court.”

Mr Lewis, 86, has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Manhattan federal court, Reuters has reported.

Two of Mr Lewis’s pilots, Patrick O’Connor, 66, and Bryan Waugh, 68, have also pleaded not guilty to related insider trading, the newswire said.

AACo shares were 1 per cent higher at $1.50 at noon on Tuesday.