...PROSECUTING MARTHA STEWART: THE OVERVIEW; Martha Stewart Indicted by U.S. On Obstruction By CONSTANCE L. HAYS Published: June 05, 2003 Martha Stewart was indicted yesterday on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and securities fraud, all linked to a personal stock trade she made in 2001. She pleaded not guilty and pledged to fight the charges. Hours after her arraignment in federal district court in Manhattan, the media and merchandising company she founded, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, announced that she was stepping down as chairwoman and chief executive. She will continue as a director and is expected to remain a force as the company's ''chief creative officer.'' [Page C1.] The indictment depicted Ms. Stewart as going out of her way to conceal the circumstances of the sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems, a transaction that investigators say she made after learning that her friend, Samuel D. Waksal, the company's founder, and his daughter were selling their own stock. Indeed, the charges focused less on the trade than on an elaborate cover-up that prosecutors say came afterward. According to the indictment, Ms. Stewart lied to investigators by telling them that she and her stockbroker had previously agreed to sell the shares if their market value fell below a certain price, and altered a phone message from the broker in her assistant's computer ''immediately following a lengthy conversation with her attorney.'' At a news conference announcing...
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...The Martha Stewart Case Professor Beverly H. Lee | AbstractThis is a brief synopsis into the life of Martha Stewart and the legal fortunes or misfortunes of Martha Stewart. We will delve into the various stages in her life and the outcome of the events that transpire in her life. By: Paul Cumberbatch BUSA 2106-200 | Fraud, lying, conspiracy...not terms that any individual generally wants associated with their history, nevertheless with their reputation and personality; even if that individual happens to be Martha Stewart. Her name pronounces itself across cookbooks, magazines and even has its own show on Style and The Learning Channel. It now pronounces itself with yet another captivating theme, as part of one of America's major scandals. As a well-respected author of books on cooking, entertaining and decorating she rose to prominence. It was also due to the expansion of her brand name by means of magazine and television show, and serving as CEO of the Martha Stewart Omnimedia. However; as it would come as an ironic coincidence that she would have to go to court which subsequently led to Ms. Stewart’s resignation from her post as CEO amid allegations of insider trading in 2002. Martha Stewart was born on August 3, 1971 as Martha Kostyra in New Jersey. She was the second of six children as she grew up in Nutley, New Jersey. By Age 13 she was working a model, making appearance in fashion shows, television and printed advertisements. As time went along she began attending...
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...Many consider Martha Graham to be one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of the twentieth century. She set in motion an entirely new concept of modern dance; one that transformed its nature in both movement and tone. Her career spanned seventy years, during which she choreographed more than one hundred and eighty dance compositions (PBS). She inspired hundreds of aspiring dancers. Many of her pupils later distinguished themselves as acclaimed choreographers (Terry). Her dance movements impacted the everyday life of many people, and taught one to appreciate every beautiful moment. Graham was immersed in the study of movement from the moment she was old enough to observe the fluidity of the body. Her father, a doctor who specialized in nervous disorders, believed strongly in diagnosing through observation. He focused on watching how his patients moved physically through a space. This stuck with Graham, who later incorporated the relationship between body and space into all of her work. Graham's interest in dance turned into a passion after she attended a performance of Ruth St. Denis, a premier ballerina in her day. Graham's parents were not thrilled with her career choice and had her attend a junior college. After her father's death however, she enrolled in the Denishawn dance school (Graham). While Graham began her career in ballet, her passion was for modern dance. Once she began teaching, she was able to have complete control over what she loved to do. The study...
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...Individual Paper- Week 2 Abstract This article will discuss unethical business research; it will demonstrate the effects of using fraudulent information in the stock market. It will tell the effects on the organization as well as the individual. It will indicate the sentence imposed in regards to committing Business fraud. The (SEC) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reported that Martha Stewart did on 27 Dec 2001 receive private information from an employee at Merrill Lynch. This information was used to save her from taking a loss in the stock market. Based on this private information She sold her shares in the ImClone System. By selling all her shares she was able to save $45,673 dollars. It was reported that the day after she sold her stocks the stock market value for ImClone fell 16%. The back lash from this illegal action came to light in the following months. Stewarts reputation suffered. The media had a field day with the information that she had received unpublicized information from her broker at Merrill Lynch. There were several articles headlining this information i.e. Newsweek had a cover indicating “Martha’s Mess”. She went on CBS and was literally grilled by Jane Clayson anchor at that time. During this time she was serving on the New York Stock Exchange as one of the board of directors. As of October of 2002, She had held that position for only four...
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...Q1: For $45673, a very public figure ruined her image. Why? In my view, she cares her personal money and benefits more than the ethics and laws in stock market. By using the insider information, she could sell the stock of ImClone Company before the FDA announcement and avoid a net loss of $45,673, which is a tiny fraction of her net worth. The action of using insider information is unethical and illegal. At the same time, she lied and provided false statements to the authorities about the ImClone stock trades. I think she knew she was doing something wrong, but still made lies and wrong actions for the money. Martha Stewart had built a media empire based on presenting things in a proper manner, however, her illegal actions destroyed her good...
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...(1) What did you find most interesting about Martha Furnas's background? I found it very interesting that Martha went to school to become a physical therapist. I found it kind of ironic that she was the captain on all her sports teams and didn’t recognize her ability to lead a team. This was eye opening to me because obviously, Martha holds a lot of responsibility and authority in her position. It is a good reminder that we don’t have to have everything figured out right away. I know that there are numerous opportunities out there for me and that it is okay to fail once or twice while searching for my life path. It was very comforting for Martha to share her story to success and show us as a class that sometimes you are wrong about what you...
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...Martha Graham wasn’t just an ordinary dancer, but an extraordinary choreographer and artist. You would expect an artist to just draw with pen and paper, but Martha wasn’t a regular artist, she was different. She didn’t go by the rules of classical ballet, but created her own movements that showed internal feeling through movement. In addition to Martha’s creativity, she was also a critical modern dance figure in history and created a modern dance movement. Martha, full name of Martha Graham was born in Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Friday May 11, 1894 and was talented from the start. Growing up with her Irish father, Dr. George Greenfield, Graham, who was also a nervous disorder doctor in addition to her father,born in the year of 1856. Was the one to encourage her, her whole life and was the one who told her to speak up. In addition to her father, her mother, Jane Beers Graham, was born 1870 also pushed her to do her best in everything, except dance which she later made a big impact in dance history. Martha grew up with three younger siblings Mary, Georgia, William and also Lizzie Prendergast, who might as well have been her sister because she supported and grew up with Martha (Dr.Graham saved Lizzie's life after being attacked by dogs. She...
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...HBS Martha Steward Case Assignment Questions 1. In what ways did Stewart’s control of shareholder voting rights disrupt the functioning of the board? How did her control of the board interfere with directors’ carrying out their fiduciary duties? Stewart highly influenced and controlled all aspects of the company and board of directors. Because Stewart was the founder, major shareholder, and the face of the company it was difficult to bypass her demands and have a fully functional board. The name of the company itself was Martha Steward Living Omnimedia and at the end of the day the firm was founded on her image and work. On top of that, having over 90% of the shareholder voting rights and a big ego proved to be detrimental to the company’s well being. No matter what the board would advise or how good the vision of new CEO’s were she would always decline their plans and eventually make them resign. Furthermore, she appointed most of the board members. Just to name a few people, CEO Sharon Patrick was someone she met on a hiking trip to Kilimanjaro, Frederic Fekkai on the board was Martha’s hairdresser, Charlotte Beers and Michael Goldstein were also appointed by Martha. By her having the most control and appointing a board that back her up no matter what left many executives who wanted to make changes with their hands tied. 2. What changes in the makeup of the board would have improved governance? Had there been a more diverse group that was searched for by third...
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...Martha Graham, whom is recognised as one of the utmost and greatest artists of the 20th century, revolutionised the art form of contemporary dance through movements which were established on the expressive dimensions of the human figure. The mother of contemporary dance achieved this by using her body in certain ways which were classified as athletic and dramatic, although raised controversy regarding every principle taught to ballet dancers. Outlined in this presentation will be a thorough analysis of Martha Graham’s work which challenged the concept of dance and made her one of the most significant pioneers of contemporary dance today. As well as her choreography throughout “Night Journey” and the symbolism involved which portrays her bravery...
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...Case Analysis Martha Stewart takes on time Summary of the case 1. Some important vocabularies in the case * Franchise- Formal permission given by a company to somebody who wants to sell its goods or service in a particular area. * Retreat- A period of time when somebody stops his/her usual activities and goes to quiet place for prayer and thought an organization event when people can do this. * PIE - A share of money, profits etc. * Stake- Money that somebody invests in a company. - An important part or share in a business plan etc. that is important to you and that you want to be successful. * Division –A large and important unit or section of an organization. * Lavish –Large in amount or impressive and usually costing a lot of money * Threaten -To say that you will cause trouble hurt somebody etc. if you don’t get what you want. * Buyout - A situation in which a person or group gains control of company by buying all or most of its shares. * Backer - A person or company that gives support to somebody, especially financial support * IPO - Initial Public Offering (the act of scaling shares in a company for the first time). 2. Background a) About Time Warner * Time Warner is a very large U.S media and entertainment company selling magazines films television programmers and internet...
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...Martha Stewart To me, Martha Stewart is a television profile, a happy woman I saw on food shows when I was younger, someone that you'd think is the most genuine person you’ve ever seen on your screen at home while sitting comfortably on your couch wishing you could taste the delicious food or cakes she made. Not to make a general statement and say that everyone with higher status in the society has a bad side, but this woman is someone I would never assume to be a white collar criminal. She is born in New Jersey has Polish background and is at the end of the summer turning 75 years old, she has 5 siblings. She, just as any normal child from a middle-class family started working as a nanny when she was 10 years old. While every other 15 year...
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...Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad essential Medal of Freedom as a cultural ambassador. She receive the highest civilian award of the US. Martha Graham was recognized as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. She created a movement language based upon the expressive capacity of the human body. It all began in 1926 when she started teaching a group of dancers who had been drawn to her creative work of dance. It than began the Martha Graham Studio. When official accreditation came to dance in 1980 with the formation of the National Association of Schools of...
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...Martha Stewart Martha Stewart Martha Stewart is an author, editor, and a homemaking advocate. Over the last two decades Stewart has held a prominent position in the American publishing industry. She was the author of several books, hundreds of articles on the domestic arts, editor of a national homekeeping magazine, host for two popular daytime television programs, and commercial spokeswoman for K-Mart (Wikipedia). At the height of her career, Stewart’s success came to an abrupt hault as she encountered many hardships that were responsible for her undesireable reputation and diminished trust in the business world. In December 2001 Stewart held 3,928 shares in ImClone, a New York-based biotech firm. On the morning of December 27, Aliza Waksal, the daughter of the firm's CEO, Sam Waksal, told Douglas Faneuil, the assistant to Stewart’s Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic, to sell the ImClone shares in her account. Soon after, Sam Waksal's accountant tried to sell Sam's shares as well. Faneuil told Bacanovic about the Waksals' desire to sell, and Bacanovic quickly called Stewart, leaving a message that ImClone's stock was going to start trading downward. Stewart sold her ImClone shares on the afternoon of the 27th. The following day, December 28th, The Food and Drug Administration reported publicly that ImClone’s promising cancer drug Erbitux was not going to be approved. After the announcement, ImClone’s stock fell sharply and Martha Stewart saved around $45,000 by selling...
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...These include CEO’s, executives, and directors that are exposed to the information. Insiders that also may have to keep quit consist of Accountants and Investment Bankers. According to the article by Reem Heakal, "In the second part of Rule 10b5-2, the SEC has outlined three nonexclusive instances that call for a duty of trust or confidentiality: (1) when a person expresses his or her agreement to maintain confidentiality, (2) when history, pattern and/or practice show that a relationship has mutual confidentiality and (3) when a person hears information from a spouse, parent, child or sibling (unless it can be proven that such a relationship has not and does not give rise to confidentiality)" (Reem Heakal). It all began about a year after Martha Stewart sold 3,928 ImClone shares in late 2001 a day before a rigid slow down sent the stock tumbling. The stock market world was waiting for the FDA to make a decision on Erbitux. The pharmaceutical company...
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...the most fascinating style of modern dance today is the Graham Technique. This technique was discovered by Martha Graham when she began teaching and saw that she had many people wanting to learn this new and unique technique. Martha then established the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York City in 1926. To this day, this company is the “oldest continually performing dance company in the world” (Horosko). Graham’s contributions to the dance world are often compared to the influence that “Pablo Picasso had on the modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture” (Horosko). It is written that the Graham technique fundamentally reshaped American dance. The Graham technique is one of the most individual techniques in the world of dance because of its unique style, technique, and choreography....
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