Martha Stewart's "Jail Cell Decorating Tips"?

Martha Stewart\'s \"Jail Cell Decorating Tips\"?

"Martha Stewart could be arrested as early as Wednesday on obstruction of justice charges and is then expected to step down as chairman and chief executive of the media and design company she built, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc."

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=2871511

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

It's a good thing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Martha Stewart\'s \"Jail Cell Decorating Tips\"?

Re: Martha Stewart\'s \"Jail Cell Decorating Tips\"?

LOL, BuddTX! That is hillarious! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

So we'll prosecute one insider trader and let thousands of inside traders, like "President" Bush, walk. I think Martha Stewart's real "crime" is that she looks like a big enough catch so the administration can pretend they care about all the people who got cheated and continue to get cheated.

This administration can't tell the difference between legitamate business risk and fraud. There is nothing new about "Might makes Right" as a political philosophy, wether the might is money, political influence, or military power. What is new is that this administration has replaced "Fair Play" with "Might makes Right" as the new American Way.

So they prosecute Martha Stewart, big deal. I guess we're all supposed to just laugh off the corruption that did not get addressed. I'm not laughing, I'm still looking for justice and fair-play.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

I'm not impressed. The amount of money involved is under $250k, thats peanuts for these kind of things.

Not to leap to the defense of Martha, but I tend to believe her and that she didn't understand the implication of the information she was given. If you weren't on the board and your buddy called you up and "boy, I heard something bad, you better get out fast!" you'd do it and you'd be inside of the law. Her problem is that she forgot that the rules are different when you're on the board.

she screwed up, she should repay the money or something, but I haven't seen anybody prove anything criminal.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

Martha Stewart should be in jail for being annoying. oh yeah, and illegal practices.

The only thing our great President Bush is guilty of is not raking liberal democRATS over the coals when he had the chance.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

I always figured she was a druggie, kind of surprising she's being prosecuted for financial dealings; but then druggies need money.

The "great" Mr. Bush is a drunk driver and won't say what his history with drugs is. He was on the board when he dumped his Hadson stock at an unbelievably fortunate point. Guess that's why Republicans have such empathy for Wall-Street cheaters; they put a few in the White House.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

Not to be defending Martha - she has the money to defend herself - but I look at it this way: Let's make it personal. If a friend of yours happens to own a startup and calls you to chat and sometime in that conversation says "get out now, if you stay in you'll loose everything you have invested."

Would you:

A) Keep everything as it is even though you know you'll loose it all.

B) Sell your stock because you know he knows what he's talking about.

C) Chastise your friend for telling you and call the SEC to report him.

D) Buy more of his company's stock before it looses value.

If she didn't ask him for insider information and it was just sort of dumped in her lap, she certainly can't "un-hear" it. The sensible path does NOT seem to be keep your money in the stock knowing that you will lose it after you DO hear it.

What would YOU have done?

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

Being a billionaire, she should have just let it go. Selling was as dumb as the actress whatzername who got caught shoplifting.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

But I asked what YOU would do, Photonboy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

(And I'm assuming you are not a billionaire ... )

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

I HOPE I would be smart enough to realize that I was on the board and therefore I HOPE I would be smart enough to recognize that the information I had just been given was not something I should know about... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

But I'll say again, $250k is nothing. Pocket change! If she was out to make money in insider trading she should have at least made enough to cover her legal fees, this wont come close. It was a mistake, she needs to return it or something. But jail time? I don't think so.

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

James:

I have a hard time with that view. Mainly because we are all suppose to be considered equal in this land whether you have ten cents or ten billion dollars to your name. If you or I stole or misappropriated $250k of tax money do you think we'd get jail time? Better iron your tutu because the feds have accomodations for you too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Mike-

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

While I don't have any specific figures I'll bet there are a LOT of people who have misappropriated that much money or more making payments to the government or the IRS and are not going to jail /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I don't know how much money she actually gained, the stock transaction was for $250k, the profit over what she was optioned the stock as may have only been a few thousand, I don't know.

I don't want to confuse the legal system with the justice system! Legally it appears that they have enough information to seek her arrest. However, then she gets to go before a judge who is supposed to meter out justice. I don't want to live in a system where everyone is treated equal no matter what. I want to be treated like an individual and I want the judge to listen to my story. If I made a mistake that I can make real reparations for (like paying back the money or something) and no people were hurt in the transaction and I have no record or other problems that would lead the judge to decide I am a repeat offender and I can show that my intention was not criminal and that it was an honest mistake. Then why should I go to jail? nothing is gained by that except a miscarriage of justice. If you want to short circuit that system by installing a "mandatory minimum sentance" or other such garbage then why have judges at all, just let the police take you away to begin with.

Now, if she is unable to convince the judge that it was a mistake that she is willing to correct and if the judge thinks that she had real intent to defraud in doing this, then thats another story!

I'm not saying that the amount of money involved isn't enough that the gov should ignore it, only that I'm giving Martha enough credit to assume that for that amount of money she would not have done something that was going to land her in jail! She could probably write a check for that amount out of her checking account right now! She's either a LOT stupider than her savvy business moves in the past would have us believe, or it's all a horrible mistake!

Re: Martha Stewart\'s

Through most of my life, I've obeyed the rules generally, so I would have followed proper procedures in this case, particularly since it was a friend also happened to be the head of the affected company, not to mention it was the day before a negative announcement; alarm bells should have been going off in her head. You can't do that kind of stuff especially when the entire company depends on your integrity and trustworhiness.

About 35 years ago, I was in a long stream of traffic on a two lane highway - there were no gaps, you just had to cool it and wait it out. All a sudden, in the face of oncoming traffic, this woman in a car passed a bunch of us and crashed head on into the oncoming car. WHAT was she THINKING?

Possibly she was so accustomed to getting her own way that she thought the oncoming car would pull over to the right and let her by. Didn't happen. Same with Stewart maybe?

Maybe Stewart thought the sum involved was so piddling that the watchdogs would be sleeping and she could get away with it. How about: "Pound wise, penny foolish" to turn a saying on its head.

Re: Martha Stewart

Or, why does Sammy Sosa cork his bat?

Re: Martha Stewart

For all those thinking she just made a silly mistake.

What did Martha do before her job as "Martha Stewart Superwoman? (My wife loves her) Answer: She was a stockbroker. Being a former stockbroker you might get the impression she had some idea how the rules work.

Re: Martha Stewart

Old thread, I know, but I saw this pic and had to post it...

[removed due to some issues - see Sunspot's link below]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Re: Martha Stewart

Check this site for a string of photoshop pics on Martha. worth1000

Re: Martha Stewart

Quickbeam, your photo is causing a popup window for worth100 to pop up asking for a username and password.