Martha Stewart Convicted of All Counts
NEW YORK - Martha Stewart (news - web sites) was convicted Friday of obstructing justice and lying to the government about a superbly timed stock sale, a devastating verdict that probably means prison for the woman who epitomizes meticulous homemaking and gracious living.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated three days before convicting Stewart of all counts against her. The charges carry up to 20 years in prison, but Stewart will most certainly get much less than that under federal sentencing guidelines.
Her ex-stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, 41, was convicted on all but one count against him, making a false statement.
The charges centered on why Stewart dumped about $228,000 worth of ImClone Systems stock on Dec. 27, 2001, just a day before it was announced that the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) had rejected ImClone's application for approval of a cancer drug, an announcement sent ImClone's stock plummeting.
Stewart and Bacanovic claimed they had a standing agreement to sell when the price fell below $60. But the government contended that was a phony cover story and that Stewart sold because she was tipped by her broker that ImClone CEO Sam Waksal was frantically trying to dump his own holdings.