Martha Stewart

[jimnyc]

Here's the latest headlines for those following the Martha Stewart insider trading case. I'm just curious what everyone's thoughts are on this. It's starting to look more and more like she is guilty.

Star Witness in Stewart Trial Admits Lie

NEW YORK - Former brokerage assistant Douglas Faneuil, the government's star witness in the Martha Stewart trial, testified Tuesday that he illegally relayed information about one client to another and then lied about it.

"I did something illegal," Faneuil said shortly after taking the witness stand. "I told one client what another was doing and lied to cover it up."

Prosecutors have said Faneuil's boss, stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, told Faneuil to pass along a "secret" tip to Stewart on Dec. 27, 2001 — that ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal was trying to get rid of his shares. Waksal later admitted using insider knowledge about a negative government report to illegally dump his own company stock.

His testimony contradicts Stewart and Bacanovic's claim that they had a pre-existing agreement to sell Stewart's ImClone stock when its price fell below $60 per share.

Stewart is charged with obstruction of justice and securities fraud over her sale of the stock and her public comments afterward.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=3&u=/ap/20040203/ap_on_bi_ge/martha_stewart_36

 

[lilcountriegal]

I think she's guilty. I admit I dont follow the case that closely, but from what I've heard, she was definitely involved in something shady.

However, I also think she's just as irritating as Barbara Streisand.

 

[Moi]

The sad fact is that the government isn't trying her for insider trading.

The sadder fact is that she might lose a multi-hundred million dollar empire for it based on the word of a friggen assistant broker who begged the feds for a deal.

The saddest part is that she is not what the media makes her out to be, doesn't do anything as a CEO that male CEO's haven't done first and worst.

 

[jon_forward]

I liken this case to stewert being the sacrifical lamb....but I also believe what we have seen so far is but the tip of the ice-burg as to wrongs wallstreet has put on us...she is a smokescreen to them nothing more....sadly...K-mart...as shitty a store as they are..deserved better...

 

[Psychoblues]

Each year around income tax time we see "sacrificial lambs", jon. It's a part of the "1984" paranoia, don't you agree? Unfortunately for Democrats, it's usually Democrats that take the abundant brunt of all that "sacrificial lamb' bullshit, don't you also agree?

The Enrons, the Worldcoms, the Walmarts and K-Marts and even the Fords, GM's and Chryslers take their billions and walk. No charges, no investigations, no questions at all. For Christ's sake, even Levi's took their tax rebates and immediately closed all their American plants and relocated offshore!!!!!! I could write you a book but for this venue I will spare you the sorid details.

Now, it's Martha Stewart. Martha ain't no demon and Martha hasn't robbed any municiple retirement funds and her very advertised $40,000 profit hasn't bankupted a single soul in this country. This is not to excuse her indiscetion, if there was one, but to point out that the billions that that have absolutely been lost in fraud and insider trading tactics is somehow now lost in the conservative media.

I'm paying attention but I'm sad to say that most are not.

 

[jon_forward]

I dont know stewerts party and it matters little to me....as to a timetable for this...Nah...I dont buy it. companys going off shore....I dont believe this to be a long-term problem but for the short-term it sucks to be us. I do also believe that the wall-street fatcats are going to be falling like leaves from a tree during a fall breeze but thats MO and no way to prove any of it.. just the way I feel about them[ over-paid]...

 

[Psychoblues]

Then your exposure is shallow, my friend. Check out the newspapers. It's always during April through August we get so much of all this. In this case it's Martha Stewart and she happens to be a Democrat and she is being totally victimized by both a regime that wishes to discredit her but a media that is sucking up to them. Entertainers are typically targeted by the IRS while the much richer and much more evil robbers within the financial/energy/monopolistic industries are either ignored or let go with simple slaps on their hands. For one, I hope to see serious change in this propensity by the IRS and positive legislation that will guarantee a fairer shake for the innocent and harsher punishments for the guilty. White collar crime in this country is now viewed as almost legal due to it's total lack of consideration for it's victims.

 

[jon_forward]

psycho my friend...shallow exposure wouldnt be the term I would use..more like why only one or two??? actually white collar crime is not high on my list but it is getting more attention lately.. I do believe that anybody in a position of power..ie banker, ceo, pastor,stock-broker that takes advantage for monetary/personal gain should be treated like the worst criminal...no more club med...party affilaition matters not...but you do have to remember that most people that have a lot of money are rich and famous[I made a bushism] a little man gets popped for not being able to pay a ticket for 250 bucks...off to jail for 90 days..... a bank teller rips off the bank tothe tune of 25 large and they get probation.... yeah some changes do have to be made... change is slow to come but come it will...

 

[Psychoblues]

You and I are on the same wave length here, jon. Please accept my apology for that "shallow" remark that I made. Do you also consider the $126 national average daily cost for the incarceration of and not including the additional public defender expenses of the average arrested weed smoker or the juvinile candy bar stealer? In no way do I defend either but as a matter of American fairness I insist that our major problems are ignored while the more youthful or otherwise harmless indiscretions are prosecuted far too vigorously than should be as compared to the indiscretions of the much more serious money/retirement/job stealing actions of others. I think you can agree with that, can't you?

 

[jon_forward]

If you are alluding to the fact that some laws are "inforced" more than others...and the fact that some of these so called crimes have no victim save for a dead plant... I could not agree more...ignored is not the word I would use as much as I would over-zealist law enforcement ....the way law enforcement is as of now it feeds off itself....hell, its a whole sub-culture. catch a roach in the ashtray and HELLO we got a car to auction off. petty offenses deserve petty fines....I could go off big time on this sooo I will chill

 

[Psychoblues]

Dig it

 

[William Joyce]

MS is a scapegoat. It's so hard not to believe they didn't nail her because she's high-profile and seen as "bitchy" by everyone. Probably, she is bitchy. Probably, she did piss people off. I just don't see why we should be using "Oprah" audience-member standards to select targets for federal prosecution.

 

[jimnyc]

I personally could care less if she is a scapegoat or not. She was wrong. It appears she broke the law. She deserves to be punished. I hope she sees time behind federal bars.

Witness Set to Drop Stewart Bombshell

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The government's star witness against Martha Stewart (news - web sites) is expected to drop his bombshell on the trendsetter during Wednesday's testimony when he will recount passing her a fateful stock trading tip.

Douglas Faneuil, the former assistant to Stewart's Merrill Lynch broker, began his long-awaited testimony late in the day on Tuesday. The session set the stage for what prosecutors hope will be their key weapon against Stewart and her former broker Peter Bacanovic, who are charged with lying to cover up a suspicious trade.

Faneuil left the witness stand on Tuesday after telling the jury that Bacanovic, who had been his boss at Merrill Lynch, ordered him to give Stewart confidential information that would cause her to sell her shares in ImClone Systems Inc . in December 2001.

Samuel Waksal, then chief executive of ImClone, and his two daughters were also Bacanovic's clients. After learning that the Waksal family was trying to dump their shares ahead of negative news about the company, Bacanovic ordered Faneuil to inform Stewart, prosecutors charge.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/nm/20040204/ts_nm/crime_marthastewart_dc_23

 

[jon_forward]

say this lastnite on cnn.....stewert is toast....why would she do such a stupid thing for 40k???? that is like pocket change to her....so much fer being a scapegoat....a K-mart is right there in the swireling water with her

 

[jimnyc]

This isn't going to help her case!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/marthalog1.html

 

[Moi]

Originally posted by jimnyc
This isn't going to help her case!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/marthalog1.html

If anything, this would help her case. What she's charged with is covering up an inside tip, not the tip itself. So, if she changed the message but then reverted to the old, it clearly shows she DIDN'T cover up.

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Moi
If anything, this would help her case. What she's charged with is covering up an inside tip, not the tip itself. So, if she changed the message but then reverted to the old, it clearly shows she DIDN'T cover up.

But it does give some the idea that she was looking to cover something up.

 

[jon_forward]

is she in touch with reality???? I think not....sad old lady...sad RICH old lady...very well suited for teaching basket weaving classes in prison