Timeline of events in Stewart scandal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-17 11:21

A timeline of relevant events in the Martha Stewart stock trading scandal:

_Dec. 26, 2001: ImClone Systems Inc. founder Sam Waksal is tipped that the Food and Drug Administration will decline to review the company's application for its cancer drug Erbitux, then tips his daughter to sell her ImClone stock and tries to sell his own.

_Dec. 27, 2001: Martha Stewart sells all 3,928 shares of ImClone stock she owns. Prosecutors later contend she was tipped that Waksal was trying to sell his shares.

_Dec. 28, 2001: The FDA makes its decision public. On Dec. 31, the first trading day after the news, ImClone drops 18 percent.

_Jan. 7, 2002: Stewart's broker, Peter Bacanovic, tells Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys that he and Stewart had agreed on Dec. 20, 2001, to sell ImClone if it fell to $60.

_Feb. 4, 2002: Stewart tells the SEC, federal prosecutors and the FBI that she had an agreement with Bacanovic to sell the stock when it fell to $60 per share.

_June 12, 2002: Waksal is arrested and charged with insider trading. Stewart issues a statement repeating her assertion the sale came about because of the $60 agreement.

_Oct. 2, 2002: Former Merrill Lynch & Co. assistant Douglas Faneuil pleads guilty to taking a payoff to keep quiet about the Stewart stock trade.

_June 4, 2003: Stewart and Bacanovic are indicted on nine federal counts. Stewart resigns as chairwoman and CEO of her company but remains chief creative officer and a board member.

_June 10, 2003: Waksal is sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

_Nov. 7, 2003: Stewart tells ABC News she is scared of prison and adds, "I don't think I will be going to prison, though."

_Jan. 27: Prosecutor claims in opening statements that Stewart sold ImClone stock based on a "secret tip," then lied to cover it up. Stewart's attorney compares case with the Big Brother novel "1984."

_Feb. 3-4: Faneuil testifies that Bacanovic ordered him to tell Stewart that Waksal was selling stock. Faneuil claims Bacanovic pressured him repeatedly to cover it up.

_Feb. 10: Stewart assistant Ann Armstrong testifies Stewart personally altered log of a message Bacanovic left on the day she sold ImClone. But Armstrong also says Stewart ordered the message changed back and never asked her to lie.

_Feb. 27: Judge throws out securities fraud count against Stewart.

_March 5: Stewart convicted on all charges; Bacanovic convicted on all but one charge, falsifying a document.

_March 15: Stewart resigns from board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia but retains the title of founding editorial director.

_May 5: Judge denies Stewart and Bacanovic new trials based on allegations that a juror lied to get on the panel.

_May 18: Producers of "Martha Stewart Living" say TV show will be suspended after the current season.

_June 9: Federal grand jury indicts Larry F. Stewart, a Secret Service ink expert who prosecutors say lied on the witness stand at Stewart's trial. Stewart and Bacanovic later seek new trials.

_July 8: Judge refuses to grant Stewart and Bacanovic a new trial based on perjury charges against Larry Stewart.

_July 16: Stewart and Bacanovic each sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home confinement for lying about a stock sale.

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