Here's a composite timeline of Martha's bigger contributions to the Dems and the investigation of her sale of the shares of ImClone Stock:
•1996 - $15K in donations to the DNC and Democratic candidates
•2000 - $10K to the DNC
•June, 2001 - Over $133K in contributions to the DNC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Unity
•Dec. 26, 2001: ImClone founder Sam Waksal is tipped that the government will deny the company's Erbitux application, then tips his daughter to sell her ImClone stock and tries to sell his own.
•Dec. 27, 2001: Stewart sells all 3,928 shares of ImClone stock she owns. The government later contends 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%.
•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 below $60.
•Feb. 4, 2002: Stewart gives the SEC, federal prosecutors and the FBI the same information about the $60 stop-loss order.
Do the math. She dramatically steps up her contributions to the Dems in June, 2001. On December 27, 2001, she makes a routine stock sale of less than 4000 shares of ImClone stock at approximately $60 a share, per her stop loss order with her broker. It's not at all unusual for people to review their portfolio at the end of the year and sell stocks that they consider "losers" so that they can claim any capital losses against their capital gains. On January 7, 2002, only 7 business days after Ms. Stewart's stock sale, her broker, Peter Bacanovic, tells the SEC that they had agreed on December 20th to sell ImClone if it fell below $60. If Bacanovic was already answering the SEC's questions on January 7, then that would have to mean that the SEC was already looking into the trade. Why it's almost as if they were MONITORING Martha's every financial move!
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Stewart&first=Marthahttp://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-03-05-stewart-timeline_x.htm