Foo - Martha Stewart guilty

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=1&u=/ap/20040305/ap_on_bi_ge/martha_stewart

:beer: :beer:

I know it's not right to rejoice in someone's misfortune, but what I am happy about is that justice has finally prevailed on a celebrity.

I'll rejoice when I read this same news about Ken Lay and all the rest of the current batch of predominantly white male corporate criminals. Don't you ever wonder why Martha Stewart, a woman, and not nearly the worst of these white collar offenders, is the first and essentially the only person of prominence being prosecuted?

Lisa: Dad, do you know what Schadenfreude is?
Homer: No, I do not know what shaden-frawde is.
[sarcasm] Please tell me, because I'm dying to know.
Lisa: It's a German term for `shameful joy', taking pleasure in the
suffering of others.
Homer: Oh, come on Lisa. I'm just glad to see him fall flat on his butt!
[getting mad] He's usually all happy and comfortable, and surrounded by
loved ones, and it makes me feel... What's the opposite of that shameful
joy thing of yours?
Lisa: [nastily] Sour grapes.
Homer: Boy, those Germans have a word for everything!

**************

having said that, I always did think that if she was dumb (i.e. careless) enough to have dunnit, then she should take the spanking for it. I don't have any doubt that she's done much, much worse, in terms of cutthroat, shady dealings. but why her? why should she have been targeted so?

as Stephen King once wrote, Big enough to be noticed is big enough for someone to come gunning for you.

and she's an awfully icycold, ah, person.

-alex.

Even though I am no fan of Martha's if she wasn't a celebrity this would be no news, and probably not prosecuted criminally. This is small potatoes compared to Enron, World Com etc.

Whew - now that MS faces possible prison time - the world is finally safe from financial predators! WHAT A JOKE THIS TRIAL HAS BEEN!! It's a weak attempt (unfortunately, that's all that's needed for 95% of us) to show that our government is getting tough on these crimes. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As others have stated - I'll believe it when I see the big boyz taken down. Since the big boyz are the one's that pay off the decision makers, that's simply not going to happen. Until we stop the payoffs/bribes, the public will continue to get financially raped.

What Martha could look like by time she gets out of prison if she gets the full 20 year sentence.

http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/wheelchair.gif

I'll rejoice when I read this same news about Ken Lay and all the rest of the current batch of predominantly white male corporate criminals. Don't you ever wonder why Martha Stewart, a woman, and not nearly the worst of these white collar offenders, is the first and essentially the only person of prominence being prosecuted?

spot on ranya. Martha Stewart was convicted Friday of trying to cover up conduct that isn't a crime. She was convicted of being greedy and of being cheap. She was convicted of having a bad memory and of being arrogant. She was convicted of acting scared and using terrible judgment. She was stupid and jury made her a convict.


I hate Martha Stewart , but let's face it, she is going to jail because she wasn't honest with investigators about a telephone call that any investor would love to get and that many investors do get every day in this country. It is interesting to me that a successful woman of a huge empire, (who got there the old fashioned way with hard work and making the lives of others better) rather than the myriads of men who have done the very same thing through the ages, was dragged out as a humiliated scapegoat for all those who got away. No bloodshed was committed. The world isn't safer today than it was yesterday.The only difference between her and them is that the feds decided to make an example of her. It worked. From where I sit, the jury felt she should be punished and made an example of for what powerful coorporate men have been doing for ages. .

In other words, I don't think she doesn;t deserve it, but our justice system is not consistent and judicious in the way it delegates punishment. OJ Simpson gets away with murder and Martha will serve some time for being stupid. Future coorporate scammers are just going to learn how to select their juries better and come up with a better defense strategy. She will in no way dissuade such future behavior.

It sounds like some of you are saying that Martha was procecuted because she didn't donate enough to Mr. Bush's campaign fund. I had never thought of it that way but now that you bring it up... hmm... well, I won't say it's true but it is certainly something to think about.

The law is the law.

Having said that I now must say what a joke this whole thing is.

Prosecuting Martha Stewart in order to "look" tough on the rich and powerful just means the government does not have to prosecute one of thier buddies who does the same thing now to "look" tough on this type of thing.

MS will have little backlash on the "good ole boys" who will keep on raping and pillaging for money until the day they die.

Stealing money is status quoe in wall street. There are people who make millions on buying/selling/artificially pumped up stocks for profit.

The law is the law.

Having said that I now must say what a joke this whole thing is.

Prosecuting Martha Stewart in order to "look" tough on the rich and powerful just means the government does not have to prosecute one of thier buddies who does the same thing now to "look" tough on this type of thing.

MS will have little backlash on the "good ole boys" who will keep on raping and pillaging for money until the day they die.

Stealing money is status quo in Wall Street. There are people who make millions on buying/selling/artificially pumped up stocks for profit.

So we agree on this!!! Too bad the fox is in charge of the hen house, so to speak...

The ironic thing is MS saved a measely 50 grand from insider trading of Inclone stock. On Friday, when she was found guilty on the minor counts and when trading of MS stock resumed thereafter, she lost more than $100 million within minutes...

George

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=1&u=/ap/20040305/ap_on_bi_ge/martha_stewart

:beer: :beer:

I know it's not right to rejoice in someone's misfortune, but what I am happy about is that justice has finally prevailed on a celebrity.
If some one told me to sell I'd sell and while it might be illegal for them to tell me it would be stupid of me not to sell. She didn't do anything the rest of us wouldn't do.

Let's see how many of the real villians of finance get convicted!

JOe

Oops!

When I first read the title, I thought it said

"Martha Stewart quilty"

But, she has truly been targeted. However, it is NEVER a good idea to lie to federal investigators. She had a chance to settle with pleading guilty on one count with probation, and failed to take that opportunity.

Anyone think she will find a nice country without extradition for securities-type crimes and fly away pretty soon? I don't see her doing time!

Oops!

When I first read the title, I thought it said

"Martha Stewart quilty"

But, she has truly been targeted. However, it is NEVER a good idea to lie to federal investigators. She had a chance to settle with pleading guilty on one count with probation, and failed to take that opportunity.

Anyone think she will find a nice country without extradition for securities-type crimes and fly away pretty soon? I don't see her doing time!

You know, I was thinking the same thing. This would be a good time for her to step across the border. With her money and connections she could secure a mexican birth certificate and passport in no time at all.

So we agree on this!!! Too bad the fox is in charge of the hen house, so to speak...

OMG!!!! I cannot deny the good ole boy network because I am not blind nor stupid. So yes, apparently we agree here.

I guess they are serving up sno cones in he!! now that we have agreed on something huh ;).

Illegal, immoral, and stupid. As judged by her peers she got what she deserved.

The "everyone does it" defense does not work because in REALITY, not everyone lies, cheats, and steals.

There are SEC fraud trials every single day (200 in 2003) that fill the dockets of American court rooms. MS is a big name and thats why she got the coverage. She is not so special.

Illegal, immoral, and stupid. As judged by her peers she got what she deserved.

The "everyone does it" defense does not work because in REALITY, not everyone lies, cheats, and steals.

There are SEC fraud trials every single day (200 in 2003) that fill the dockets of American court rooms. MS is a big name and thats why she got the coverage. She is not so special.

I agree. And this is not a victimless crime either. It hurts all of who may have owned ImClone and took a bath. Martha and the Waksals were able to unload their shares that they knew were worthless at a minimal loss. Our 401ks and mutual funds snapped them up, not knowing they were worthless, and now we are stuck with the greater loss...assuming the stock was sold off before ImClone's recovery.

Comparing Martha to Enron is apples to oranges. The one similar charge of Securities Fraud against OmniMedia was tossed out by the judge.

Men and women get targeted for insider trading. Famous women get the headlines.