Martha Probes Widen

http://money.cnn.com/2002/06/26/news/martha_probes/index.htm | 6/26/01

[mombonn]

Martha probes widen

Prosecutors look into possible obstruction of justice and false statements, reports say. June 26, 2002: 8:43 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Prosecutors have widened their investigation into Martha Stewart's sale of ImClone Systems stock to include possible obstruction of justice and making false statements in addition to insider trading allegations, newspapers reported Wednesday.

Douglas Faneuil, the sales assistant to Stewart's broker, also has changed his account of what occurred with the sale of the stock, according to the Wall Street Journal. Faneuil initially backed up the explanation Stewart and Merrill Lynch broker Peter Bacanovic gave for the sale of the stock, but now says he misled investigators, the report said.

Government regulators and Congress are looking into the sale of ImClone stock by Stewart, former ImClone CEO Samuel Waksal and others prior to public knowledge that the Food and Drug Administration had rejected an application for approval of its cancer drug Erbitux.

Stewart and Bacanovic have said they had a pre-arranged plan to sell her shares of ImClone if the stock hit $60 per share, but Faneuil told prosecutors that he made up the story after he was pressured by Bacanovic and knew of no such arrangement, the Journal report said. Prosecutors said he was in a position to know of such an agreement, according to the report.

Separately, Bacanovic is considering withholding information from prosecutors unless he is grated immunity, according to a report in USA Today.

Merrill put both Bacanovic and Faneuil on administrative leave last week.

[VOA]

Martha Probes Widen

Etiquette note to budding journalists:
Never use the word "probe" when a female is the subject of an investigation.

Unless the lady in question is someone objectionable like Marth Stewart.

[VOA]

Unless the lady in question is someone objectionable like Marth Stewart.

Oops...that is of course, Martha Stewart.

[tdadams]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is made a little queazy by all the talk of "probing Martha Stewart".

[VOA]

I do get a mild grin, given the irony that the term seems to be used a lot
in regards to a "good manners" personality like Ms. Stewart.

[eureka!]

Her public company (Ticker: MSO)doesn't like the news either. Down 20% more right now (but then a lot of stocks are down, too)...

[Diddle E. Squat]

At least the original title proposal was scrapped: "From Turkey Basters to Cucumbers."




Going now to wash my mouth out with soap.

[mombonn]

fyi

[discostu]

And they especially shouldn't "widen". Bad visuals. Reminds me of a couple years ago when ESPN reported that NHL goaltender Ron Tugnut was nursing a groin injury. You just don't say things like that in polite company.

[Liz]

Etiquette note to budding journalists: Never use the word "probe" when a female is the subject of an investigation.

Could also be construed as a "hate crime" against women by the "thought police." Could subject perps to prosecution and lengthy jail terms.

[IW]

Today ladies and gentlemen, we'll be making jail house rock candy. It starts with your three weekly alotted packets of of sugar. Then we dip a cup of water from the stainless steel combination toilet/sink here at the back of the cell. We then mix both ingredients together, while reaching under the bunk and getting out our can of sterno. Lighting the sterno and placing the ingredients over the small flame.

Now if the gurad doesn't come, by for at least fifteen minutes, we should be sucking on some jail house rock candy in no time at all. I hope everyone has learned something from the show this morning. Besure and tune in every morning at this time, at least for the next four years.

[beckett]

Hard to believe Stewart would put her $500 million business, a business inordinately dependent on her personal reputation, in jeopardy for a lousy $250,000, but it appears she has.

The evidence that she acted on inside information is damning.

I never liked Stewart --- I have no use for cold know-it-alls --- but I grew to respect her intelligence. Now it seems even that respect was misplaced.

[Gopher Broke]

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

For the story behind the story...


Tuesday, June 25, 2002 5:29 p.m. EDT

Martha Stewart: Democrat Mega-Donor

Embattled doyenne of domesticity Martha
Stewart was a major Democratic Party donor for
most of the 1990s, giving the legal maximum to
the campaigns of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton
and Al Gore, along with more than $100,000 in
additional cash to related Democratic causes.

Federal Election Commission records reviewed
by NewsMax.com showed that Stewart has given
nearly $170,000 to Democratic Party accounts
since 1992, including $3,000 to Bill Clinton
for his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns,
$2,000 for Gore's 2000 White House bid and
$1,000 for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate
campaign.

Stewart's donations to combined Democratic
accounts were much more generous, with her
largest single contribution - $75,000 -
funneled into the Democratic Party's "Unity"
account in 2001. She gave another $25,000 in
2001 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee.

In September 2000, the lifestyle diva also
kicked in $10,000 to the Democratic National
Committee.

Since insider trading charges began to swirl
around the home advice maven two weeks ago,
the price of her stock in Martha Stewart
Omnimedia has fallen by some $200 million,
according to the New York Daily News.

On Monday alone she lost $105 million on
paper.

Stewart is accused of selling her investment
in ImClone based on an insider tip from the
company's owner, Sam Waksal, a close Stewart
friend who was arrested on insider trading
charges last week.

A phone log uncovered by investigators Monday
suggests that on Dec. 27, Stewart got a call
from her broker, Peter Baconovic, telling her
the bottom was about to drop out of the
stock's price.

The log undermines Stewart's claim that she
had a standing stop-loss order with Baconovic
to sell ImClone stock when it dropped below
$60 per share.

Baconovic, who also sold ImClone stock for
Waksal and his daughter, was suspended by
brokerage house Merrill Lynch last Friday.

Stewart's donor records showed no
contributions to Republicans.

[Quix]

PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL.

Gives one some . . . hope shall we be cheeky enough to say . . . regarding BILLDO AND SHRILLERY.

[ODDITHER]

You know, It really isn't Martha's politics that I object to, just because you are rich and famous shouldn't preclude you from being an idiot and falling for all of the leftist philosophy. This is a free country and you should be free to give money to the politicians that you like.

It isn't that I am jealous of her success, I hear she had nothing to start with and built an empire on her own. Free enterprise - God bless the American Dream.

It isn't her television show or her magazine. Although I don't watch it or buy it I tease my daughter about having to have a "Martha Stewart" wedding that we are in the midst of planning. (Only two weeks yeeeeeeeks.) Her Fiancee swears she is possessed with demons (Martha Stewart that is.) but I think that is because he just got through painting 300 clay pots in wedding colors and making them into scented candles and embossing the date and their name on them. This was Martha Stewart's idea -

No, my objection to Martha Stewart goes far deeper and than any of the above mentioned - it is simply - I HATE HER BANGS!!!!! Every time I see her I want to take a pair of sissors and cut them. They look horrible, she is absolutely unbearable to look at. You would think with all of her money, she could hire her buddy Bill's $200 dollar hair cut guy.

[ODDITHER]

You know, It really isn't Martha's politics that I object to, just because you are rich and famous shouldn't preclude you from being an idiot and falling for all of the leftist philosophy. This is a free country and you should be free to give money to the politicians that you like.

It isn't that I am jealous of her success, I hear she had nothing to start with and built an empire on her own. Free enterprise - God bless the American Dream.

It isn't her television show or her magazine. Although I don't watch it or buy it I tease my daughter about having to have a "Martha Stewart" wedding that we are in the midst of planning. (Only two weeks yeeeeeeeks.) Her Fiancee swears she is possessed with demons (Martha Stewart that is.) but I think that is because he just got through painting 300 clay pots in wedding colors and making them into scented candles and embossing the date and their name on them. This was Martha Stewart's idea -

No, my objection to Martha Stewart goes far deeper and than any of the above mentioned - it is simply - I HATE HER BANGS!!!!! Every time I see her I want to take a pair of sissors and cut them. They look horrible, she is absolutely unbearable to look at. You would think with all of her money, she could hire her buddy Bill's $200 dollar hair cut guy.

[Stentor]

Hard to believe Stewart would put her $500 million business, a business inordinately dependent on her personal reputation, in jeopardy for a lousy $250,000, but it appears she has.

Somewhere, Andrew Lloyd weber is rubbing his chin and saying hmmm.

[Stentor]

Webber.

[Caipirabob]

Tomorrow's Show: How to make a nice immitation Pate De Fois Gras out of urinal cakes and fancy Victorian-style doilies out of pillow cases.

[Paleo Conservative]

Could subject perps to prosecution and lengthy jail terms.

I'm sure some of those journalist would enjoy a "lengthy jail term."