U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
SEC Seal
Home | Previous Page
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic Settle SEC's Insider Trading Charges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006-134

Washington, D.C., Aug. 7, 2006 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has reached an agreement to settle insider trading charges against Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic relating to Stewart's sale of ImClone Systems stock in December 2001. Under the settlement, Stewart agrees to an injunction, disgorgement of losses she avoided, and the maximum penalty of three times the losses she avoided, for a total of about $195,000 in monetary relief. Stewart also agrees to a five year bar from serving as a director of a public company and a five year limitation on the scope of her service as an officer or employee of a public company. Bacanovic agrees to an injunction and to pay disgorgement of commissions and a penalty totaling approximately $75,000. In a separate order, the Commission previously barred Bacanovic from associating with a broker, dealer or investment adviser.

Mark K. Schonfeld, Director of the Commission's Northeast Regional Office, said, "This settlement achieves everything we sought to accomplish in pursuing this case. The combination of monetary relief and future professional restrictions serve both to sanction the defendants' insider trading and to restrict them from future positions of investor trust."

The SEC's complaint, filed in June 2003, alleges that on Dec. 27, 2001, Bacanovic, then a broker, illegally tipped his client, Stewart, with the nonpublic information that the then-CEO of ImClone Systems, Samuel D. Waksal, and his daughter were selling their ImClone stock. Based on this information, Stewart sold all of her ImClone stock. The next day, ImClone announced that the FDA had refused to file ImClone's license application for a new cancer drug, Erbitux, and ImClone's stock price dropped 16%. The complaint alleges that Stewart and Bacanovic violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

Stewart and Bacanovic have agreed to settle the SEC's enforcement action by consenting to final judgments that impose permanent injunctions against future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and imposing the following relief against each defendant:

Stewart

  • Disgorgement of $45,673, representing losses avoided from her insider trading, plus prejudgment interest of $12,389, for a total of $58,062;
     
  • A maximum civil penalty of $137,019, representing three times the amount of losses avoided;
     
  • A five year bar from serving as a director of a public company; and
     
  • A five year limitation on her service as an officer or employee of a public company. During that period, she will be prohibited from participating in certain activities, including financial reporting, financial disclosure, internal controls, audits, SEC filings, and monitoring compliance with the federal securities laws.

Bacanovic

  • Disgorgement of $510, representing the commissions he earned as a result of Stewart's ImClone stock sale, plus prejudgment interest of $135, for a total of $645; and
     
  • A civil penalty of $75,000.

The SEC is today filing the proposed final judgments with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan for consideration and approval. The defendants consented to the judgments without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint.

The Commission appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the investigation of this matter.

# # #

For further information contact:

Mark K. Schonfeld (212) 336-1020
Director, Northeast Regional Office

Helene T. Glotzer (212) 336-0078
Associate Regional Director, Northeast Regional Office

Bruce Karpati (212) 336-0104
Assistant Regional Director, Northeast Regional Office

Alexander M. Vasilescu (212) 336-0178
Regional Trial Counsel, Northeast Regional Office

  Additional materials: Litigation Release 19794

 

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-134.htm


Modified: 08/07/2006