Insider Trading
Martha Stewart, the countries top icon for homemaking has been in the eye of the public since June 2002, but not for her craftiness or culinary abilities. Stewart instead has the spotlight on her for crimes of insider trading. A tip from her former broker Peter E. Bacanovic, persuaded her into selling her IMClone stock after sharing information about a close friend of Stewart's getting rid of his shares. Stewart's companion, Sam Waksal, was also the chief executive of IMClone Systems Inc. IMClone Systems is a well-known company specializing in the research and development of therapies treatments of cancer. The stock selling was provoked due to a leak of information about The Food & Drug Administration rejecting IMCLONE's drug outfit application their cancer drug Erbitux. Before the information reached the public about the FDA's decision and share price plunged, Stewart sold her 3,928 shares of IMClone. Martha sold her shares at $58, and by the time the news hit, prices fell to $45, resulting in a savings of only 50,000 for the celebrity. But the whole situation of the Martha Stewart case is not a question of insider trading but a question of ethics and management in business: it's an issue of ethics and the choices people have between right and wrong and the determining factors that cause us to make those choices. While researching this subject I have found many interesting topics. One topic I found very interesting was the fact that a highly qualified executive of Merrill lynch, one of the top brokerage firms in the world, was Martha Stewart's financial advisor. Another interesting point is that Martha Stewart the mom of home cookery and cuisine, a profession based on honesty and founded on the basis of motherhood would l ...