Martha Stewart Saved! Insider Violations of Rule 10b-5 for Misrepresented or Undisclosed Personal Facts

Abstract:     
This article analyses the criminal securities fraud charges brought against Martha Stewart. Stewart was acquitted of these charges by a federal district court judge in February 2004. Specifically, the article initially focuses on whether the securities fraud charges brought against Stewart were valid as a matter of prosecutorial discretion and substantive law and whether the court was correct in granting Stewart's motion for acquittal before handing the rest of her case to the jury for deliberation. The article then offers substantive and procedural observations about Rule 10b-5 cases like the one brought against Stewart.

Keywords: Martha Stewart, Section 10(b), Rule 10b-5, securities fraud, Rule 29, prosecutorial discretion

JEL Classifications: K14, K22, K41, K42

Accepted Paper Series