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Non-Tech : Martha Stewart -- Scourge or Scapegoat -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (65)	1/26/2004 3:48:36 PM
From: SalemsHex	Respond to of 165

Jury Set for Stewart Stock Fraud Trial Jan 26, 1:18 PM (ET) By ERIN McCLAM (AP) Martha Stewart arrives at the federal courthouse in New York for the beginning of the second week... NEW YORK (AP) - A jury of eight women and four men was chosen Monday to hear Martha Stewart's stock fraud trial. Lawyers for the government and defense were expected to present their opening statements beginning Tuesday. Six alternates - four men and two women - also were selected. In a defeat for Stewart, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that the defense may not argue that she is being prosecuted for asserting her innocence and exercising her right to free speech. Cedarbaum also ruled that the defense may not ask jurors to speculate why Stewart was not charged with insider trading. The judge instructed jurors not to pay attention to the enormous publicity that has surrounded the case for more than a year. "If you see a headline about the case, turn the page. Look at another story," Cedarbaum said. "If you hear something about the case, change the channel." The day began with 53 potential jurors waiting to hear whether they would be chosen as lawyers for both sides met behind closed doors to select the final 12 plus alternates. Stewart, 62, is accused of lying to investigators about why she sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems stock on Dec. 27, 2001 - just before it dropped sharply on a negative government report about an ImClone cancer drug. The domestic entrepreneur claims she and her co-defendant, stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, had a pre-existing arrangement to sell the stock when it fell to $60. The government says Stewart was tipped that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was trying to sell his shares. Stewart is also accused of deceiving shareholders in her own company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and trying to prop up its stock by declaring in 2002 that she was innocent in the ImClone investigation. It took four days of one-by-one questioning last week for a federal judge to narrow down a pool of 165 jurors to the group who were cleared to be part of Monday's final round. The pool included some potential jurors who identified themselves as fans of Martha Stewart, and some who saw her extensive television interviews with ABC News and CNN. The judge allowed those jurors to stay after they assured her they could be fair and impartial and decide the case strictly based on the evidence. The judge claimed the unusual step of closing jury selection was needed to ensure a fair jury. She agreed to release transcripts of the juror interviews, minus the names. Last week, 17 news groups, including The Associated Press, filed court papers arguing Cedarbaum violated the First Amendment. The appeal was heard Monday by a federal appeals court, but no ruling was immediately issued. While the appeal comes too late to affect the Stewart trial, it could affect future cases. apnews.myway.com

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (65)	2/19/2004 6:18:49 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 165

Hi Jeff, Looks like the "smoking gun" has shown up... From an earlier post of mine: There's also a bit of information that I haven't seen repeated recently, so maybe the information is incorrect or has already been discredited or dismissed. Supposedly, someone accompanying Martha on the Cabo trip (presumably Mariana Pasternak, the real-estate broker) was tipped (presumably by Martha) and this other person then called her husband (or ex-husband), a dentist if I recall correctly, back in Westport(?) and he also sold whatever ImClone shares he may have held. Again, to repeat, don't take this additional information as the Gospel, because it came out originally shortly after the scandal broke, and proper investigation may have already discredited it or revealed it to be incorrect. But if it's true, then the Feds may indeed have established a chain of events, and may indeed have their smoking gun for both insider trading charges and obstruction of justice charges. We'll have to wait and see. Message 18531881 And in today's news... thestreet.com Stewart Friend Drops Bomb By Gregg Greenberg TheStreet.com Staff Reporter 2/19/2004 5:33 PM EST Updated from 1:27 p.m. EST A traveling companion of Martha Stewart stuck a knife into the back of her longtime friend Thursday, testifying that the domestic diva claimed to know about the frantic efforts of ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal to unload his shares in the biotech company. "I remember Martha saying that Sam was talking funny at the Christmas party, that he was trying to sell his stock, that his daughter was trying to sell her stock, and Merrill Lynch didn't sell," Mariana Pasternak testified in Stewart's criminal obstruction trial in Lower Manhattan. Merrill Lynch refused to allow Sam Waksal to transfer his ImClone shares into his daughter's account on the date of Stewart's sale. Pasternak also said Stewart enthusiastically praised Merrill private client broker Peter Bacanovic, through whom she sold her stake in ImClone Systems. "She said, 'Isn't it nice to have a broker who tells you these things?'" testified Mariana Pasternak, the Westport, Conn., realtor with whom Stewart vacationed for several days after selling the shares on Dec. 27, 2001. Prosecutors claim it was knowledge of Waksal's efforts to unload his shares that trade that led Stewart to sell. Pasternak's testimony, which covered a conversation she had with Stewart in Mexico on Dec. 30, 2001, is probably the most explicit evidence jurors have heard about what Stewart knew. "She said, 'His stock is going down and I sold mine,'" Pasternak said. KJC