British billionaire Joe Lewis, was sentenced to three years of probation Thursday after pleading guilty to insider trading in New York and admitting to sharing business secrets with personal friends. The sentence also includes a $5 million fine and restrictions on his business activities for years to come.

Lewis was sentence after admitting to “repeatedly” passing information about four publicly traded companies to his girlfriend, personal pilot, employees and friends, though he did not personally trade or financially benefit from the information shared. His age. medical issues, damage to his reputation and cooperation with the investigation were all cited by prosecutors in court filings in the Southern District of New York as reasons to impose a penalty less than the 18 to 24 months of prison time called for in federal sentencing guidelines.

Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer whose firm represents whistleblowers in, healthcare fraud cases under the False Claims Act (FCA) and also under the Securities and Exchange, FINCEN and CFTC whistleblower programs. He can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217