Stewart Settles

The Martha Stewart-SEC settlement has just come over the transom, courtesy of WSJ (subscribers only):

Media personality Martha Stewart agreed to pay $195,000 and accepted a ban on serving as a director of a public company to settle civil insider-trading charges related to her December 2001 sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock, federal regulators said on Monday.

The long-awaited settlement also imposes limits on her ability to serve as an executive of Martha Steward Living Omnimedia Inc. Her current title is "founder," according to recent SEC filings. ...

"This case sends a strong message that the commission will not tolerate insider trading, especially where brokers tip their clients with confidential information that insiders of companies are selling their stock," said Bruce Karpati, assistant regional director at the SEC's northeast regional office.

Oooh, how tacky. Comment on the queen of design is relegated to an assistant regional director of the SEC, as if she were just another common crook. Oh, I see. She is.

Related Tags: Martha Stewart, SEC