Posted on 07/01/2002 3:04:15 AM PDT by kcvl
Martha Stewart's embattled stockbroker Peter Bacanovic has been spending his days out of sight, chatting with friends on the phone, writing thank-you notes to well-wishers and huddling with lawyers, a new report says.
Bacanovic, currently holed up at a friend's house as the ImClone scandal continues to brew, has also been fielding phone calls from friends and questioning why he ever hired Douglas Faneuil as his assistant, New York magazine reports this week.
Bacanovic client Stewart unloaded 3,928 shares of ImClone stock on Dec. 27, a day before the Food and Drug Administration nixed a key application for Erbitux, the company's new cancer drug.
The diva of domesticity and Bacanovic have said his 26-year-old assistant, Faneuil, sold the shares on a prior order she made to sell the stock if it went below $60 - not in response to information that ImClone founder and former CEO Sam Waksal was dumping his shares or on advance notice of the FDA rejection.
Faneuil reportedly admitted he concocted his corroboration of that story under pressure from Bacanovic.
Bacanovic is also spending plenty of time getting legal advice, the magazine says.
His days are packed with conferences with lawyers - some lasting as long as five hours - and fielding phone calls from friends.
"He seems sad now," said author Brad Gooch, a Bacanovic friend. "He used to have this optimistic, peppy view of the world, an innocent relish of the social game. This experience has punctured that enthusiasm."
The magazine also reports that Bacanovic - reportedly irritated with Stewart because she didn't sell her ImClone shares when he recommended she do so in November - was leery about hiring Faneuil as his assistant.
Bacanovic reportedly told friends he was unsure whether to hire the baby-faced Faneuil because the assistant was buddies with Robert Haskell, a gossip columnist for Women's Wear Daily, where he penned a column called "Eye."
Friends said Bacanovic feared Faneuil might put him in a tricky position because Faneuil might feed Haskell tidbits on some of Bacanovic's own friends and clients - never imagining that the first-year brokerage assistant would be at the center of a federal probe looking into insider trading.
The magazine also reports that Faneuil - who was on vacation in Bali with Haskell last month - was suspected of leaking Haskell at least one scoop. The news dealt with one of Bacanovic's closest friends, socialite Marina Rust, who had given birth to a baby girl. The item ran under the line: "It's a glamour girl!"
Someone in the food and drug Admin. must have leaked the imformation to Bacanovic a day or two before that. WHO?
No, no. Someone at the FDA called Waksal (sp?), the former CEO of ImClone and told him they weren't gonna get approval on the 26th. Waksal (sp?) and his family started selling immediately (through Bacanovic). After selling a couple of mill for Waksal's (sp?) daughter, Bacanovic called Martha and left a message for her with her assistant. Martha then returned the call and spoke with Bacanovic's assistant, Faneuil, who then sold Martha's 3928 shares.
So far, all this has showed me is that Martha was probably more irked at being so low on the call sheet to dump the stock before the official announcement than at the prospect of losing $200,000.
Sure, when he was making $10,000 a week in commissions on tades based on insider information. It's easy to attract big clients when you can just about guarantee profits.
I wonder if he is considering the strong probability that his phone is tapped?
Hmm... looks like a job for the Despinner.
MARTHA BROKER IN DEEP KIMCHEE
Much better.
Aah, Pete as the victim. I'm sure Doug regrets the day he was hired - his BOSS is responsible for the following sentence:
Faneuil reportedly admitted he concocted his corroboration of that story under pressure from Bacanovic.
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