From: Gene McAloon 

On Fri, 06 Jun 2003 20:14:13 -0400, Judy Folkenberg
 wrote:

>Maybe...Steve Madden the quite hip shoe designer is serving 41 mos. in prison
for stock
>fraud.

The Stewart case is an odd one. What everyone expected, an indictment on insider
trading charges, didn't happen. Instead she was indicted on obstruction of
justice and fraud charges.

The obstruction of justice charge is understandable in that she claimed she
had a stop loss order with her broker when in fact she didn't. I am not
sure just what the fraud charge is all about. Usually that involves
screwing you own shareholders. But how was she supposed to have done that?
Surely it was the Imclone shareholders who got screwed and I don't see how
she was involved in that.

Also unusual is that in such a small case, involving a mere $40K or so, why
are both the Justice Dept. and the SEC involved?  Ordinarily both get
involved only when really big fish and lots of money are involved. Not a
few have suggested that both agencies are trying to heighten their own
reputations at a time when those reputations seem somewhat tarnished in
that the top people at Enron, WorldCom, etc. still haven't been indicted.

That obstruction of justice charge seems all too typical nowadays. As with
Clinton, for example, if you can't get your man on anything really
concrete, go with an obstruction of justice charge. Practically anything
and everything a person might do in trying to save himself can be
interpreted as an obstruction of justice.

In light of the above I think there is no chance whatsoever that Stewart
will get a prison term. I suspect it will all be settled out of court with
Stewart paying a fine, but as usual in such deals, not admitting guilt. By
the time the deal is reached,, most will have forgotten all about the case
anyway.

Gene

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-4