Martha Stewart, the frump?
PUSSSYKATT
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Embattled Martha Stewart looked like the diva of disaster yesterday when she
went antiquing in the Hamptons. Trying to put her stock scandal on the back
burner, the diva of domesticity paid a visit to the annual Mulford Farms
Antique Show and Sale in East Hampton.
But she looked like anything but the Martha on TV, appearing grim in dark
glasses, a frumpy hat, T-shirt, capris and clogs. She carried a large leather
handbag and had a windbreaker tied around her waist.
Her daughter, Alexis, 36, and a bodyguard accompanied her.
To beat other bargain hunters - or avoid the paparazzi who shadow her every
move - the 60-year-old Stewart opted for the one-hour preview of the outdoor
show, which sells everything from furniture and paintings to china and pottery.
Martha did, indeed, avoid the crowds. There were only about 30 to 40 people at
the preview.
And while she once bought $1,200 worth of mother-of-pearl cutlery at the show,
she left with only an antique wastebasket.
"She's sometimes a big spender, but she walked out with very little," said one
vendor.
Still, Martha managed to crack a smile as she headed for her car to return to
her home on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton.
Martha has good reason to be glum.
Sources say Merrill Lynch has uncovered new evidence that challenges her
account of why she sold 3,900 shares of ImClone on Dec. 27, the day before the
FDA declined to approve the biotech firm's new cancer drug, sending its stock
plunging.
Stewart has said the sale occurred not because of insider trading, but because
she had an agreement with her broker, Peter Bacanovic, to sell the stock when
it dipped below $60.
But a source familiar with the investigation said Merrill "found information
that is counter to the public statements about what triggered that trade" and
turned it over to probers.
The information "contradicts" Stewart's claim that a price limit triggered the
trade, the source said. "The information tells a different story."
As a result of the finding, Bacanovic and his assistant, Douglas Faneuil, were
placed on administrative leave Friday, the source said. Merrill, in announcing
the move, said only that its investigation raised "factual issues regarding a
client transaction."
Time magazine reports that Stewart phoned Bacanovic on Dec. 27 to ask him to
sell her stock while she was on the ground in San Antonio waiting to fly to
Mexico on her jet.
With her was Marina Pasternak, a real estate broker who is the estranged wife
of Dr. Bart Pasternak, a vascular surgeon who is a close friend of Stewart's,
Time says.
As a result, investigators are trying to find out whether Marina had any
contact that day with her estranged husband, who sold 10,000 shares of ImClone
on either Dec. 27 or Dec. 28, the magazine says.
Pasternak told investigators he had 100,000 shares at the time of the sale and
sold the remaining 90,000 in January.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has demanded that Bacanovic turn over
the list of the trades he made Dec. 27, the day before ImClone stock tanked,
and if any of his socialite clients are on the list, they could be in hot
water.
"Giving the list to Congress has given more than one person a bit of a
hesitation. Congress isn't leak-proof. Its definitely on the list of top secret
things. None of his clients will want to be exposed," said a Wall Street
insider.
Additional reporting by Brad Hamilton, Lauren Barack, Farrah Weinstein and
Clemente Lisi
FOR PHOTO: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/50978.htm
* * *
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS
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MARTHA STEWART. Even if she does not entertain the feds by singing that
Christmas song, "Here we go a Waksal-ing," her insider trading mess is a
win-win. The woman's into kitchenware, living arrangements, country and outdoor
and garden stuff. She could just do another magazine titled "Martha Stewart up
the River."
I can see the centerfold. The bars of her jail cell? Each a different color. An
ombre of orange to maroon to rose to pink. Perfect for spring.
Maximum security-types could have strong primary colors. Blue, green, white.
Gold leaf for the locks.
In solitary confinement, cons make do with only that unappetizing, cold rusty
little slot that opens to slip a food tray in. She maybe could repaint that a
clear bright amber. Not flat. Shiny. Enamel. Sort of make the whole "hole" a
bit more up-market.
And those prison stripes? Definitely passé. She could put her entire tier in
pastels. Long sleeves for the junkies, matching ice picks for the killers.
She should tap Leona for suggestions or Jean Harris, who knocked off that diet
doc Herman Tarnower. Others to brain-pick are soap stars Susan Lucci, whose
Ericka Kane character on "All My Children" did time, and Catherine Hickland of
"One Life to Live," whose character was just sentenced to 28 years. Catherine,
who looks great even in the can, might do a piece on how they manage to get
those makeup and hair people in there.
The edition, "Martha Stewart Living in Jail" could do sections on inmates'
food. A topic like, "How Bad Apples Cook Good Apples." Or "How Those in Deep
Freeze Keep From Freezer Burns." Having cooked her own goose, maybe Martha will
devise recipes such as "Ten Ways to Bread a Nailfile."
It's a natural for Martha. She does pages on canning. She should know from
cans.
Jail house food is big with carbohydrates. Perfect for Martha to run a seminar
on how fat makes you more law-abiding. After all, nobody ever heard of a tubby
robber being successful. Too much trouble waddling from the scene of a crime.
She could do foldout sections. One on business. She could teach them that a
businessman can't win nowadays. If he makes a mistake, he's fined. If he makes
a killing, he's taxed. If he makes a sharp trade, he's jailed.
A pullout on economizing. She could print the example of the Scotsman who told
his unfaithful wife: "Stand behind your lover." Why? "Because I'm going to
shoot you both."
She could organize a little home ec class where fellow felons can hand-letter
signs that say: "Keep on the grass."
Now, the yard. Or as the magazine "Martha Stewart Living - Inside" would put
it, the rock garden. Depending on how long your sentence is, cons could learn
what seeds or bulbs to plant. If you're doing life she could suggest a
perennial.
There could be a little gardening quiz. Such as:
Q: "What do you get when you cross a rambling rose with a pansy?"
A: From Miss Martha: "A flower that smells sweet, wears too much color - and
skips."
There might even be an inset on polite yard conversation. Such as:
Convict No. 75543098216: "So, tell me, 877095471, do you understand why Robin
Hood robbed only the rich?"
Convict No. 877095471: "Sure. Because the poor had no money."
Of course, she will have to make some adjustments. For instance, the gum
machine won't take credit cards. The bed sheets will be standard correctional
facility, not genuine Egyptian cotton. At Yuletide, when she hears the phrase
"ho ho ho," it won't be Santa starting up the reindeer, it'll be a guard
counting down the inmates.
And won't it be fun, when they're all in the rec room, to show how to make your
cell more homey. That's providing the drapes don't clash with the warden. But,
imagine instructing a counterfeiter how to paper his walls with 10,000 dollar
bills.
Miss Martha might do a home page. Interviews with cell mates. Like the beaut in
Cell block 4 would tell how she's doing time only because she won at blackjack.
Really how? "I used a real blackjack."
Or the one sentenced for fraud because, as she puts it: "They told me, 'Lady,
you can't collect the insurance on your husband. He isn't dead yet.' So I told
them, 'Trust me. There's no life left in him.' "
Like I said, Martha, it's a win-win.
* * *
Another rough week likely for decor queen
By GREG B. SMITH
NY Daily News Staff Writer
On her TV appearances this week, Martha Stewart plans to chat about how to whip
up red, white and blue cupcakes for the kids and prepare a "striking"
arrangement of rhododendrons.
The home decorating czarina has even vowed to go live on "The Early Show" on
CBS Tuesday — a promise that in normal times would hardly be considered news.
But this will be no normal week for Stewart.
With a growing insider trading scandal threatening to intrude on her carefully
manicured world, this may very well be the week from hell for Stewart.
There are now three probes of the ImClone Systems stock scandal — by
Congress, securities regulators and the Justice Department.
Her company's stock has fallen 16% since the scandal broke, and after-hours
trading indicated it could fall again tomorrow.
Even her bosses at CBS promised to question Stewart when she appears on "The
Early Show" — her first live TV appearance since the scandal erupted.
She has said she did nothing wrong, but two of her chief alibis — ImClone
founder Sam Waksal and her broker, Peter Bacanovic — are now in trouble.
Waksal has been charged with insider trading; Bacanovic was suspended Friday by
Merrill Lynch.
The tide turned late Friday when Merrill Lynch suspended Bacanovic and turned
over what could be smoking gun evidence about Stewart's ImClone trades the day
before the stock collapsed.
A source familiar with the probe said Merrill Lynch's investigators found
evidence that contradicts Stewart's explanation about the ImClone sale.
In two public statements, she said that weeks before ImClone collapsed, she had
instructed her broker to sell if the stock fell below $60 per share. It fell to
$58 the day she sold.
But sources familiar with the probe said Merrill Lynch lawyers discovered
evidence that Stewart's so-called "stop-loss order" — if it even exists —
was not the reason Stewart dumped her 3,900 ImClone shares.
A day after Stewart sold, ImClone executives announced after the market closed
that U.S. regulators had rejected a new ImClone anti-cancer drug. The stock
collapsed in the next business day's trading.
With the new Merrill Lynch evidence, Bacanovic — and thus Stewart — could
be in deep trouble, sources familiar with the investigation said.
"This puts enormous pressure on him to cooperate," said one source familiar
with the probe. "And that's bad news for her."
Bacanovic has not talked to the FBI, but he has given a lengthy deposition to
the Securities and Exchange Commission about his role in trading ImClone stock
for Stewart Waksal and his daughters, Aliza and Alana, another source familiar
with the investigation said.
Bacanovic answered dozens of questions posed by SEC lawyers about numerous
ImClone trades made just before the stock plunged, the source said.
If the Merrill evidence contradicts his statements made under oath, Bacanovic
could face criminal perjury charges similar to the ones filed against Waksal.
He also may be asked to testify this week before the House Energy and Commerce
Committee.
Meanwhile, Bacanovic's aide, Douglas Faneuil, who also was suspended, is
cooperating with the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in its ongoing probe,
said Faneuil's lawyer, Marc Powers.
With Stephen Battaglio
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E Varden
The mind, she boggles. She's clever, she makes millions, and she's
this STOOPID?
Man, greed really fries the brain, dunnit?
Pe
Tunzter
>From: agcgoss...@aol.com (PUSSSYKATT)
>she left with only an antique wastebasket.
It was a perfect match for her antique paper shredder.
2nz
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