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Pastimes : Investment Chat Board Lawsuits -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dantecristo who wrote (4713)	6/10/2003 2:41:41 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12465

Ex-ImClone CEO Gets 87 Months in Prison Tuesday June 10, 1:27 PM EDT By Paul Thomasch and Gail Appleson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Samuel Waksal, the founder of biotech company ImClone Systems Inc., was sentenced on Tuesday to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay $3 million in fines for tax evasion and his role in insider trading. U.S. District Judge William Pauley also ordered Waksal, whose insider trading scheme led to last week's indictment of style-setter Martha Stewart, to pay $1.26 million in restitution. Wearing a dark suit and blue tie, Waksal apologized to family, ImClone employees, shareholders and cancer patients. Members of his family attending the hearing at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan were emotional, and some cried. "First and most importantly, I want to apologize for my wrongdoing. I am deeply disturbed and so very sorry for my actions," said Waksal, who kept clearing his throat and tried to gain composure. He also apologized to his parents, who are Holocaust survivors. "They survived so much, they didn't need me to inflict pain at this point in their lives," he said. During the sentencing, Pauley said that with his crimes, Waksal had "undermined the public's confidence" and caused "incalculable harm." The judge said that Waksal's business success, wealth and fame had caused Waksal to "disconnect from reality, and most importantly, from the rule of law." Waksal pleaded guilty last October to six felony counts related to insider trading, and in March he pleaded guilty to charges he evaded taxes on $15 million worth of art purchases. He was named in a 13-count indictment in August 2002, accusing him of bank and securities fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors alleged Waksal tried to sell his ImClone shares ahead of a public announcement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would reject the company's highly touted cancer drug, Erbitux, which is still under development. Stewart, a friend of Waksal's and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., was dragged into the investigation in June 2002 when news surfaced that she had sold nearly 4,000 ImClone shares in December 2001, just before the bad news about Erbitux came out. Stewart was indicted last week on charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to federal agents. She pleaded not guilty. The hearing marked the first chief executive to be sentenced in the spate of corporate scandals that have shaken faith in American business.