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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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June 04, 2003
Martha Stewart gets screwed
Martha Stewart is getting screwed. Generally I don't give a rat's ass about Martha Stewart one way or the other. I would not be likely to ever buy a copy of her magazine, or the pastel linens at K-Mart or whatever kind of crap she's selling.
Still, this bunch of indictments is abusive as hell- and a good argument for scrapping most of the insider trading laws. She's a good, successful American business person who has done nothing substantially wrong. She has a unique big name celebrity CEO status, and some prosecutors plan on making big names for themselves by taking her down. This works much like street thugs who make their names based on what big shot playa they murder.
Martha Stewart stands accused primarily for the "crime" of selling off four thousand measly shares of stock after getting a call from the CEO a day before bad news hit the street. What was said between them? No one else knows. They just know that she talked to the guy on the phone.
The intolerable vagueness and arbitrariness of insider trading laws comes out perfectly right here. If Waksal specifically told her that the FDA had just rejected their big new drug, then she was getting illegal "insider information" and might spend years in prison for acting on his advice.
On the other hand, legal talking heads suggest that if he just called her and discreetly noted that he was selling off a bunch of HIS stock and did not explain specifically why, there'd be no basis for accusations of wrongdoing. And why should there be?
What if Waksal said that he was selling his stock, and added that she probably should too- with no further explanation. Is that "insider information" that Stewart should be ruined and go to prison for? Is that even bad behavior at all? I don't see it.
Over a lousy $200,000 stock sale Ms Stewart has estimated losses already in her own stock in the several hundred million dollar range. She had to give up a prestigious position on the board of the New York Stock Exchange. That's before they start in with whatever they actually decide to do with her in court.
Folks, the federal government is absolutely destroying this woman's life and business- threatening her with prison, for what? She is not even accused of any form of fraud. She's not stealing money from the kitty. She's not been playing funny with the books.
The whole point of trading in stocks comes from pitting your knowledge and judgment against that of everyone else in the market. There's no such thing as a "fair" marketplace. You have all the bits and pieces that you know from public records, from personal dealings with the company perhaps, or having a cousin that works in the warehouse. If your info is good and some prosecutor wants to make a name for himself, then you can be indicted for insider trading, as Martha Stewart could attest.
Then the feds turn loose their whole arsenal on this one person for a year and more, leaning heavily on every person with any feasible connection to her to say what they want to hear. Gee, I'm not real surprised that they've come up with some people who will say whatever they want to hear. What, you didn't co-operate with your own lynching? Well, there's some MORE FELONIES!!! It is not obstruction of justice- anything she may have done here was more like obstruction of INjustice.
Essentially, Martha Stewart has been nailed as a scapegoat for the real fraud crimes of the likes of Enron. She had nothing to do with anything like that, but these laws are way too difficult for experts to understand, much less the general public. For the vindictive playa hatas, it doesn't make a difference anyway. They're just happy to see her taken down.
Maybe I WILL go buy some damned pastel Martha Stewart brand sheets.
posted by Al at 6/04/2003 03:15:00 PM
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