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greedy_lars · 26-06-02, 08:34 PM

"and another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust"

Martha, you can't have it both ways

By ROBERT TRIGAUX, Times Business Columnist
published June 26, 2002

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm confused.

Should I ask Martha Stewart for her yummy summer recipe for Asian salad over soba noodles? Or the latest insider stock tip to fatten my wallet?

There's the rub. Martha Stewart wants to be known as America's queen of white-bread domesticity. But she also happens to be the chief executive of a good-size corporation, a multimillionaire and capitalist icon, and a consummate socialite on the A-list of the nation's business elite.

It is ultimately that dual personality that got her in deep trouble with federal investigators for possible insider trading of ImClone Systems stock. If true, that's a possible felony, a big legal problem for Martha and a serious blot on the Martha Stewart brand.

Suddenly, the bankruptcy of Kmart, which sells most of Martha Stewart's products, no longer tops Martha's list of worries. With ImClone, Martha's landed in water hot enough to boil potpourri.

That much became crystal clear Tuesday morning when CBS TV host Jane Clayson introduced Stewart's weekly home tips segment on the Early Show with a summary of events surrounding Stewart's sale of ImClone stock. Stewart agreed to discuss the stock sale in order to appear on the show.

Standing with Stewart in a kitchen studio complete with bowls of carrots and peanuts, Clayson asked Stewart about the ImClone investigation and the recent suspension of her broker (who advised selling the ImClone shares) at Merrill Lynch. Stewart, who chopped cabbage between questions, said she couldn't comment because the inquiry is continuing.

Congressional investigators and federal prosecutors want to know if Stewart had inside information when she sold nearly 4,000 shares of the biotech company in December -- one day before the Food and Drug Administration said it had rejected ImClone's experimental drug for combating colorectal cancer. ImClone's stock tanked on the FDA news.

Stewart, 60, was asked if actions by her stockbroker might complicate her situation. "I think this will all be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of any ridiculousness," she told CBS viewers. "I want to focus on my salad, because that's why we're here."

Asked again what effect the stock sale has had, Stewart replied: "When I was a model -- and I was all during high school and college -- you always wanted to be on the cover of a magazine ... Well, I am the CEO of a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and I don't want to be on any covers of any newspapers for a long, long time. That's the story. Thank you very much."

Martha. Martha. Martha. This investigation of your selling shares in ImClone just before the stock nosedived seems so unsavory. So messy. So un-Martha.

Can we trust your tips on making the perfect piecrust if we must wonder whether you're getting richer from stock tips (unavailable to other investors) from a rich CEO pal?

Should we care (as you seem to think we must) that you have four chow chow dogs named Zu-zu, Paw-Paw, Chin Chin and Empress Wu, plus seven Himalayan cats called Teeny, Weeny, Mozart, Vivaldi, Verdi, Berlioz and Bartok, if you might be heading toward a felony charge for insider trading?

For Martha, none of the rules about insider trading should be foreign territory. While in her late 20s, after a few years as a housewife and mother, Martha became a Wall Street stockbroker. It was there that she honed many of her competitive sales skills that have helped her in recent years as a CEO and self-marketing genius.

At the least, the squeaky clean Martha Stewart name is now stuck in the muck. Late-night TV comedians are enjoying Martha's predicament.

What a hot crowd. Man, you sound like you just got a stock tip from Martha Stewart. -- Jay Leno, the Tonight Show, June 17.

Martha Stewart is being investigated on possible insider trading charges. Yeah. Yeah, I think Martha might be guilty, 'cause today on her program she showed viewers how to make license plates. -- Conan O'Brien, Late Show with Conan O'Brien, June 13.

I was just telling the audience before I came out that it was a beautiful day here in New York City. It was such a lovely day that Martha Stewart was doing all her inside trading outside! -- David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman, June 18.

Now, now Martha. It's not that we really believe you're guilty of insider trading. (You aren't, are you?) Surely, it is just some marvelous coincidence that you and your broker (and apparently some friends) decided to sell out just before the crash in ImClone shares.

How did you whip up such a recipe for trouble? This is one batch of bad publicity we could have done without.

If only you had flown non-stop in your private jet before Christmas to Mexico's snazzy Las Ventanas resort. If only you had not landed in San Antonio, Texas, to call your office. If only you had not spoken that day to Peter Bacanovic, your Merrill Lynch broker, who told you he thinks "ImClone is going to start trading downward." If only you had not instructed Bacanovic to dump your 3,928 shares of ImClone.

Martha dear, we understand you and Peter say there was a standing order to sell your stock if ImClone fell below $60 per share. But why is Peter's assistant at Merrill Lynch, Douglas Faneuil, the young trader who actually handled your ImClone sale, now suggesting there was no such order?

Why did the ex-husband of your co-passenger and friend Mariana Pasternak just happen to sell 10,000 ImClone shares the following day -- just before ImClone announced the FDA had rejected Erbitux, the company's experimental cancer drug? Just before the stock plummeted?

And what about your pal, former ImClone chief executive Samuel Waksal? He was arrested June 12 by FBI agents at his New York City apartment on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. Waksal invoked the Fifth Amendment the next day at a House hearing and refused to answer lawmakers' questions.

The sad joke in this unfinished tale is that for selling her ImClone shares one a day before the FDA's bad news, Martha banked all of $228,000. Had she sold her shares after the FDA announcement, it would have cost her $43,000.

But the bad publicity has diminished Martha's roughly $600-million personal stake in her own public company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by at least $150-million.

It all gives new meaning to the remark Martha left long ago in her high school yearbook: "I do what I please and I do it with ease."

It's all enough to flatten even a Martha Stewart souffle.
source

eairler i was driving and listinening to npr, and they were talkin about worldcom, and it was making me feel sick to my stomach.

who do you suppose is next? RDixons thread seems more and more plausable with each new day.

26-06-02, 08:34 PM	#3
greedy_lars everything you do Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: wlll come back around to you Posts: 3,982	"and another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust" Martha, you can't have it both ways By ROBERT TRIGAUX, Times Business Columnist published June 26, 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm confused. Should I ask Martha Stewart for her yummy summer recipe for Asian salad over soba noodles? Or the latest insider stock tip to fatten my wallet? There's the rub. Martha Stewart wants to be known as America's queen of white-bread domesticity. But she also happens to be the chief executive of a good-size corporation, a multimillionaire and capitalist icon, and a consummate socialite on the A-list of the nation's business elite. It is ultimately that dual personality that got her in deep trouble with federal investigators for possible insider trading of ImClone Systems stock. If true, that's a possible felony, a big legal problem for Martha and a serious blot on the Martha Stewart brand. Suddenly, the bankruptcy of Kmart, which sells most of Martha Stewart's products, no longer tops Martha's list of worries. With ImClone, Martha's landed in water hot enough to boil potpourri. That much became crystal clear Tuesday morning when CBS TV host Jane Clayson introduced Stewart's weekly home tips segment on the Early Show with a summary of events surrounding Stewart's sale of ImClone stock. Stewart agreed to discuss the stock sale in order to appear on the show. Standing with Stewart in a kitchen studio complete with bowls of carrots and peanuts, Clayson asked Stewart about the ImClone investigation and the recent suspension of her broker (who advised selling the ImClone shares) at Merrill Lynch. Stewart, who chopped cabbage between questions, said she couldn't comment because the inquiry is continuing. Congressional investigators and federal prosecutors want to know if Stewart had inside information when she sold nearly 4,000 shares of the biotech company in December -- one day before the Food and Drug Administration said it had rejected ImClone's experimental drug for combating colorectal cancer. ImClone's stock tanked on the FDA news. Stewart, 60, was asked if actions by her stockbroker might complicate her situation. "I think this will all be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of any ridiculousness," she told CBS viewers. "I want to focus on my salad, because that's why we're here." Asked again what effect the stock sale has had, Stewart replied: "When I was a model -- and I was all during high school and college -- you always wanted to be on the cover of a magazine ... Well, I am the CEO of a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and I don't want to be on any covers of any newspapers for a long, long time. That's the story. Thank you very much." Martha. Martha. Martha. This investigation of your selling shares in ImClone just before the stock nosedived seems so unsavory. So messy. So un-Martha. Can we trust your tips on making the perfect piecrust if we must wonder whether you're getting richer from stock tips (unavailable to other investors) from a rich CEO pal? Should we care (as you seem to think we must) that you have four chow chow dogs named Zu-zu, Paw-Paw, Chin Chin and Empress Wu, plus seven Himalayan cats called Teeny, Weeny, Mozart, Vivaldi, Verdi, Berlioz and Bartok, if you might be heading toward a felony charge for insider trading? For Martha, none of the rules about insider trading should be foreign territory. While in her late 20s, after a few years as a housewife and mother, Martha became a Wall Street stockbroker. It was there that she honed many of her competitive sales skills that have helped her in recent years as a CEO and self-marketing genius. At the least, the squeaky clean Martha Stewart name is now stuck in the muck. Late-night TV comedians are enjoying Martha's predicament. What a hot crowd. Man, you sound like you just got a stock tip from Martha Stewart. -- Jay Leno, the Tonight Show, June 17. Martha Stewart is being investigated on possible insider trading charges. Yeah. Yeah, I think Martha might be guilty, 'cause today on her program she showed viewers how to make license plates. -- Conan O'Brien, Late Show with Conan O'Brien, June 13. I was just telling the audience before I came out that it was a beautiful day here in New York City. It was such a lovely day that Martha Stewart was doing all her inside trading outside! -- David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman, June 18. Now, now Martha. It's not that we really believe you're guilty of insider trading. (You aren't, are you?) Surely, it is just some marvelous coincidence that you and your broker (and apparently some friends) decided to sell out just before the crash in ImClone shares. How did you whip up such a recipe for trouble? This is one batch of bad publicity we could have done without. If only you had flown non-stop in your private jet before Christmas to Mexico's snazzy Las Ventanas resort. If only you had not landed in San Antonio, Texas, to call your office. If only you had not spoken that day to Peter Bacanovic, your Merrill Lynch broker, who told you he thinks "ImClone is going to start trading downward." If only you had not instructed Bacanovic to dump your 3,928 shares of ImClone. Martha dear, we understand you and Peter say there was a standing order to sell your stock if ImClone fell below $60 per share. But why is Peter's assistant at Merrill Lynch, Douglas Faneuil, the young trader who actually handled your ImClone sale, now suggesting there was no such order? Why did the ex-husband of your co-passenger and friend Mariana Pasternak just happen to sell 10,000 ImClone shares the following day -- just before ImClone announced the FDA had rejected Erbitux, the company's experimental cancer drug? Just before the stock plummeted? And what about your pal, former ImClone chief executive Samuel Waksal? He was arrested June 12 by FBI agents at his New York City apartment on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. Waksal invoked the Fifth Amendment the next day at a House hearing and refused to answer lawmakers' questions. The sad joke in this unfinished tale is that for selling her ImClone shares one a day before the FDA's bad news, Martha banked all of $228,000. Had she sold her shares after the FDA announcement, it would have cost her $43,000. But the bad publicity has diminished Martha's roughly $600-million personal stake in her own public company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by at least $150-million. It all gives new meaning to the remark Martha left long ago in her high school yearbook: "I do what I please and I do it with ease." It's all enough to flatten even a Martha Stewart souffle. source eairler i was driving and listinening to npr, and they were talkin about worldcom, and it was making me feel sick to my stomach. who do you suppose is next? RDixons thread seems more and more plausable with each new day.