- NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Martha
Stewart, who built a catering company into a media empire, was sentenced
on Friday to five months in prison for lying about a suspicious stock sale.
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- The judge could have sentenced her to a maximum of 16
months.
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- Stewart, 62, who has stepped down as an officer and board
member of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, was found guilty in March of
conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings.
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- Following the sentencing, shares of her company soared
20 percent to $10.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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- The judge also sentenced Stewart to two years of supervised
release and ordered her to pay a fine of $30,000.
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- Stewart's surrender to authorities was delayed to allow
her attorneys to appeal her conviction. If she does serve time in prison,
the judge recommended she be sent to a prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
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- The case against Stewart stemmed from her suspicious
sale of stock in biotech company ImClone Systems Inc. on Dec. 27, 2001.
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- Prosecutors said the sale occurred after her stockbroker
Peter Bacanovic ordered an assistant to tip Stewart that ImClone founder
Sam Waksal was dumping all his ImClone shares, knowing federal regulators
were about to give a thumbs down to the company's anti-cancer drug.
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- While there were no criminal charges accusing Stewart
and Bacanovic of insider trading, prosecutors said they conspired to cover
up the secret tip. Bacanovic is to be sentenced later on Friday.
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