HealthSouth Corp's CEO, Richard Scrushy is charged with overstating his companies earnings by $1.4 billion in order to meet or exceed Wall Street earnings expectations. He said to Morley Safer that he doesn't expect to go to jail, either. Good Luck. I'm sure there is a super-zealous prosecutor out there that saw this episode of "60 Minutes" and can't wait to see his name in bright lights somewhere! Remember what Rudolf Gulianni did with the guilty plea of Mike Milken of Drexel,Burnham? http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-34.htm
Why, what has she done wrong? Wouldn't it be rather stupid to send someone to jail for building a business from scratch, employing thousands of people, and providing a product that lots of people find useful. Stewart has not defrauded stockholders or evaporated people's pensions savings. Who exactly has she hurt so badly that jail should be even considered? Personally I would rather jail her prosecutors for waste of police time and shameless media showboating.
The insider trading aspect seems pretty obvious, although apparently prosecutors didn't think they had enough to lock it down in court - so they hit her with related charges (which is a typical prosecutorial tactic). But frankly, the whole thing seems stupid. The combination of "coincidences" involved in her dumping the Imclone stock aren't likely to be just "coincidences". But even if they're not, the amount of money involved is a pitance. Prosecutors should have just had her pay a fine and surrender the cash she saved by dumping the stock a day before it got slammed and left it at that. She definitely inspires loathing - kind of like an adult Barney. Bit the time and money the prosecutors have wasted is ridiculous compared to the size of the insider trading transaction. Instead of blowing over a year chasing Martha, they should have crooks like Bernie Ebbers or Ken Lay behind bars by now.