Martha's offering up serving of humble pie (Stewart begs for mercy)

New York Daily News ^ | Jan. 25, 2003 | Greg Smith

[mountaineer]

Martha is begging for mercy.

Martha Stewart sent her lawyers for a personal sitdown with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jim Comey this week to ask him not to file criminal charges against her, the Daily News has learned.

The private face-to-face meeting took place Thursday in Comey's downtown Manhattan offices overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Two sources said Stewart's hired guns, including high-profile lawyer Robert Morvillo, made the last-ditch move after federal securities regulators warned Stewart they were ready to file civil charges against her.

Punished enough

The lawyers tried to convince Comey that it would be sufficient punishment for Stewart to pay a civil fine and that filing criminal charges - given how little she gained from the deal - would be overkill, the sources said.

Defense lawyers often request a meeting with prosecutors when they fear or know their client is about to be charged.

[SamKeck]

Certainly the fact the Ms. Stewart was formerly licensed, and had a successful career, as a stockbroker should not be left out of the mix. In her efforts to obtain her Series Seven (General Securites)License she was undoubtedly apprised of the vagaries of "insider trading" and then tested on the scope and depth of her knowledge in that area before she was allowed to enter the brokerage profession.

Much, much more than most others, Stewart had reason to know what she was doing might run her afoul of SEC rules and regs.

[Blue Highway]

Can't see her being this humble for long...

[mountaineer]

I agree. She hardly was a babe in the woods. Further, this wasn't just a friendly phone call. Waksal was the head of the company, one of the few who knew the stock was about to tank, and he tipped her off - a choice bit of info I'm sure the rest of his investors would like to have had.

[doug from upland]

The *itch held Clinton fundraisers. Put her in jail.

[doug from upland]

MIDI - OB LA DI OB LA DA

Martha Stewart pulled a nice insider deal
Even though she didn't need the bucks
Now her broker says he's gonna turn on her
And she is screaming that the weasel really sucks

Wearing stripes…nice wide stripes would be fitting
Martha would look chic in stripes
In a cute-as-a-pin jail cell sitting
Martha would look chic in stripes

Martha is another of the Clinton friends
She, of course, thinks she's above the law
She learned all her lessons well from Sinkmaster
The ones that he invented back in Arkansas

Wearing stripes…nice wide stripes would be fitting
Martha would look chic in stripes
In a cute-as-a-pin jail cell sitting
Martha would look chic in stripes

A limo liberal who'll use her fame
Oh no…you can't touch her…can't touch her…can't touch her
She didn't do it…she's innocent
The right wing is who to blame

Martha Stewart has no time for questioning
A nice salad she would rather make
She's too busy showing how to trim a rose
Or how to barbecue the world's most perfect steak

Wearing stripes…nice wide stripes would be fitting
Martha would look chic in stripes
In a cute-as-a-pin jail cell sitting
Martha would look chic in stripes

A limo liberal who'll use her fame
Oh no…you can't touch her…can't touch her…can't touch her
She didn't do it…she's innocent
The right wing is who to blame

Martha watches as her empire's crumbling
She is looking like a worn out hag
She does not like who is in the White House now
There is no Roger with a pardon in the bag

Wearing stripes…nice wide stripes would be fitting
Martha would look chic in stripes
In a cute-as-a-pin jail cell sitting
Martha would look chic in stripes

Ha ha ha ha ha ha…she'd look so chic in stripes

[Hildy]

Again, like Serena Williams...you people are so nasty. How come they're after her, but Kenneth Lay is walking around his 20,000 sq. ft. home and Winnick is probably vacationing in the South of France. She did what EVERYBODY was doing then. Not saying it's right, but it doesn't make her a horrible monster. Give her the fine adn GET IT OVER WITH. Go after the people who really broke the laws and hurt millions in this country. I so rarely take the "she's hated because she's a strong woman" defense, but this time it fits.

[happygrl]

Stewart, though imperial, has a blue-colar upbringing and worked for and earned every cent she made.

I am a big fan of hers for the reasons you cited.

And your list of the reasons why she is being prosecuted covers my opinions as well.

The list of people prosecutable for this offense is significant. One has to wonder why she was "selected."

[woofie]

Martha, send me $200,000.and an apple pie and all is forgiven

[mountaineer]

Whoa, Nelly. I said if she committed a crime, she should suffer some consequence. A civil fine may suffice, I don't know. My hope is that justice is done.

I also believe Ken Lay, the Global Crossing crowd, the WorldCommers, and the whole lot of those whose malfeasance, dishonesty, insider trading, etc. caused unwitting investors to lose their shirts should be prosecuted if their actions violated the law. Not sure how that makes me nasty, and what does Serena Williams have to do with it?

[mombonn]

No sympathy, no deals. The woman is a former broker - she KNEW she was breaking the law. She deserves the maximum, plus some.

[RWG]

What was unethical about her so-called, insider trading?

Sadly, probably nothing. On the other hand, it was illegal.

Jail her, long and hard.

[mombonn]

although it's also possible, as she claims, she already had a "sell" order in with broker).

The "order" she claims to have placed is TOTALLY bogus. She said she had a "verbal" sell-stop order at 60. There is no such thing.

If a customer gives me a stop order, I have to get it on the books. It is totally unrealistic for any broker to watch a stock 24/7 for it to hit the stop price, and THEN enter the order. That just isn't done.

IF I had a stop order in, and it sold for 2 points below the stop, any customer would be FURIOUS. That kind of difference between the stop price, and the price at which it it sells is next to impossible.

Martha knows all of this. She thought she was smarter than those investigating. She also thought her celebrity would make it go away.

I hope she pays BIG TIME.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

"Talk to so-and-so at such-and-such about it, he handles my affairs."

That's what I always tell them. 8~)

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Reasonable voices above the orchestrated din.

[Hildy]

LOL..I mixed my threads! There was this ridiculous thread going, IMHO, about how Serena Williams is a horrible person because she posed with her trophy sitting on the edge of an American flag. I thought the treatment Serena was getting on FR was akin to the treatment Martha was getting.

[bellagio_jo]

"What was unethical about her so-called, insider trading?

Sadly, probably nothing. On the other hand, it was illegal.

Jail her, long and hard."

A lot of things are illegal that shouldn't be. If it shouldn't be, then I don't support such prosecution. Don't tell me to get the law changed. Laws never go away. They only increase. That's the nature of government.

[poet]

As long as the clintons and their gang of thugs are walking free there is no law that can rigtfully be applied to anyone else! The past remains the present. These lowlifes should be in prison.

Anyone who believes in Justice should work to place them there. Bush and ashcroft are wrong, wrong, wrong.


FReegards

[RWG]

Laws do go away, say slavery. Thank God murder is still on the books.

[Sloopy]

Yes! Send Martha to the soup kithens. A very fitting punishment for a liberal.