The Hindu : Martha Stewart convicted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

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Business

Martha Stewart convicted

NEW YORK, MARCH 6. In the latest corporate scandal to hit the U.S., homemaking diva, Martha Stewart, is facing a prison sentence after a court found her guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements in connection with the sale of stocks of a biotech company.

The jury of eight women and four men indicted the high-profile lifestyle guru, who dumped 4000 shares of ImClone, just a day before the company announced that the Food and Drug Administration had refused to approve one of its promising cancer drug which lead to plummeting of the company's stocks.

ImClone was run by Stewart's friend, Samuel D. Waksal, who is now serving a seven-year sentence on several charges, including security fraud.

The sentencing is set for June 17 but Stewart, who founded and built-up her `Omnimedia' empire on advising on household items, is expected to appeal the Federal jury verdict. Her lawyer, Robert G. Morvillo, said, "We look at this as having lost the first round. We took at this an opportunity for us to go to the next round and to explain to the Court of Appeals what we think went wrong in this case".

"Once we have our day in the Court of Appeal, the conviction would be overturned and Martha Stewart ultimately be determined not have done anything wrong," he added. — PTI

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