Martha Stewart Insider Trading Case
On December 27 , 2001 Martha Stewart, America's beloved housewife, sold her shares of ImClone after she received specific inside information regarding the status of the companies business. A series of events led to an investigation, interviews, indictments, a trial & sentencing of Martha Stewart to 5 months in a minimum security prison camp and then 5 months of home confinement.
Merril Lynch tipped off the Securities & Exchange commission to report the possibility of insider trading on Imclong, and launched the joint investigation with the FBI into whether or not Ms. Stewart committed a crime. I believe that Martha Stewart was guilty of insider trading, lying and conspiring to lie, in order to protect their money.
After reading this chapter on Business Ethics, primarily this case involving Ms. Stewart came to the fore front nationally because she violated the Theory of Amorality, which did not match up with her persona. Martha Stewart made a living reaching , unifying and teaching Americans how to live a "good Life" by doing wholesome, handmade & homemaker type projects. Ms. Stewart exemplified the throwback to a time when American women were schooled in their womanhood and station in life by how she kept her home & her family taken care of. Generally we think of those times when people were honest and genuinely cared to do what is morally right. Her entire fortune was based on her catch phrase of "its a good thing" and educating American working women how to take care of …show more content…
their homes and families.
Martha Stewart is an incredibly smart and well versed woman and many people respected her because of what she represented.
The biggest shock was the reality that she could be much more concerned with her profits and the profits of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She intentionally chose to lie and cover up her actions in order to retain or make money. Since she represented the "old fashion or natural way" of doing things, it fits with the Theory of
Amorality.
In the end Ms. Stewart learned a valuable lesson of self preservation at all costs. She was found guilty and lost her freedom because she was no longer acting for the moral good of the community, but for her own selfish purposes. In the end she also tried to weasel out of her sentence and ask for leniency by trying to offer to do public service and then made a public statement suggesting that this was a "small personal matter that was blown way out of proportion... mean & terrible" after she found out her sentence. I think she got what was appropriate for her crime, even if she didn't feel it was a crime.
Merril Lynch tipped off the Securities & Exchange commission to report the possibility of insider trading on Imclong, and launched the joint investigation with the FBI into whether or not Ms. Stewart committed a crime. I believe that Martha Stewart was guilty of insider trading, lying and conspiring to lie, in order to protect their money.
After reading this chapter on Business Ethics, primarily this case involving Ms. Stewart came to the fore front nationally because she violated the Theory of Amorality, which did not match up with her persona. Martha Stewart made a living reaching , unifying and teaching Americans how to live a "good Life" by doing wholesome, handmade & homemaker type projects. Ms. Stewart exemplified the throwback to a time when American women were schooled in their womanhood and station in life by how she kept her home & her family taken care of. Generally we think of those times when people were honest and genuinely cared to do what is morally right. Her entire fortune was based on her catch phrase of "its a good thing" and educating American working women how to take care of …show more content…
their homes and families.
Martha Stewart is an incredibly smart and well versed woman and many people respected her because of what she represented.
The biggest shock was the reality that she could be much more concerned with her profits and the profits of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She intentionally chose to lie and cover up her actions in order to retain or make money. Since she represented the "old fashion or natural way" of doing things, it fits with the Theory of
Amorality.
In the end Ms. Stewart learned a valuable lesson of self preservation at all costs. She was found guilty and lost her freedom because she was no longer acting for the moral good of the community, but for her own selfish purposes. In the end she also tried to weasel out of her sentence and ask for leniency by trying to offer to do public service and then made a public statement suggesting that this was a "small personal matter that was blown way out of proportion... mean & terrible" after she found out her sentence. I think she got what was appropriate for her crime, even if she didn't feel it was a crime.