Posted on 08/06/2002 7:54:41 PM PDT by O6ret
Committee Demands Stewart's Files Tue Aug 6, 7:46 PM ET By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Congressional investigators asked for additional records from Martha Stewart on Tuesday, as they widened the probe into her sale of shares of ImClone shares a day before they plummeted.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee requested some of Stewart's e-mails, records from her business manager and additional information on her phone numbers.
In a letter to Stewart's lawyer Tuesday, committee chairman Billy Tauzin and James D. Greenwood, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, again requested an interview with Stewart to clear up discrepancies between her account of the sale and that of her broker and his assistant.
Stewart has declined to meet with investigators, saying it's premature. However, her lawyer said they would do everything they could to comply with the committee's request for additional documents.
Stewart maintains she had an order to sell her stock when it went below $60 and disposed of nearly 4,000 shares on Dec. 27, a day before ImClone stock tanked on the news that the Food and Drug Administration ( news - web sites) refused to accept the biotech company's application to review its highly touted cancer drug.
Doubt has been cast on that assertion because she and her Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic, differ on when the order was placed. Moreover, Bacanovic's assistant, Douglas Faneuil, originally said there was such an order but has since changed his story.
Other discrepancies continue to mount.
Monday's New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that Faneuil told also investigators that Bacanovic ordered him to call Stewart to advise her to sell her shares because ImClone's founder and members of his family were dumping their shares. Phone records obtained by the committee show no record of such a call, Johnson said.
They do have a record of Bacanovic calling Stewart that afternoon, shortly after which she sold her shares.
Furthermore, a statement given under oath by Stewart's assistant Ann Armstrong said that Bacanovic called Stewart between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Dec 27. There is no record of that call.
"Clearly someone is lying to us and we want to find out who it is," said Johnson. "If Ms. Stewart has been truthful as her lawyers have said why shouldn't she tell her story to us under oath."
Johnson also noted a June 12 letter from Stewart's lawyer to the committee said she had no inside knowledge about any actions the FDA was taking about ImClone. But it doesn't address if she knew that former ImClone CEO Samuel Waksal was trying to sell shares and that his daughter had dumped a large block of stock.
The latter may not constitute insider trading, but a source close to the investigation said if Stewart deliberately misled or omitted information in the investigation, she could face obstruction of justice charges.
The timing of her sale aroused suspicion because she and former ImClone CEO Samuel Waksal were good friends. He was arrested in June on insider trading charges for allegedly tipping off members of his family to sell ImClone shares. Waksal is said to be working out a plea agreement with Federal prosecutors.
The Committee has asked for all of Stewart's e-mails to any individuals relating to ImClone, Waksal or her Merrill Lynch account. The panel also asked for all records for phone number either held by her or controlled by her or her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia from Dec. 1, 2001 to Jan. 9, 2002.
Investigators also asked for the phone records controlled by Stewart's business manager Heidi DeLuca and any records she might have relating to ImClone from Sep. 1, 2001 to Jan. 9, 2002.
Stewart has until August 20 to comply with the request. If Stewart doesn't comply, the committee will be subpoena the records, said Johnson.
"We are through being nice," said Johnson.
Shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia have dropped dramatically since Stewart was implicated in the insider trading scandal
Incredibly stupid.
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