Martha Stewart - Arrested, Doing Time and Doing Her Thing

When Martha Stewart's name hit the headlines in an investment scandal, the gossip blogs and online celebrity commentators jumped at the opportunity to pile on.  Martha Stewart, it was discovered, had invested in ImClone shares after her broker's assistant called her with favorable information about a potential future drop in stock she owned.  She ended up selling the stock, saving herself a grand total of $50,000.00 in the deal.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission was tipped off to her trade and began investigating her for insider trading.  When brought in for questioning, Martha and her broker gave false statements to Federal authorities, and it was these false statements, apparently made to cover up the earlier deed, that was actually seen as worse in the public eye.  Bloggers jumped at the chance to go after Stewart.

Martha Stewart is eventually convicted and has to relinquish control of her multi-billion dollar empire as she entered Federal prison in West Virginia.  Stewart was sentenced to five months of prison and five months of house arrest, but she somehow managed to make the most of the sentencing.

In the end, her determination to weather the storm appeared to provide a bridge to her company's future, and it continues now as a strong corporate success story, despite the insider trading charges and false statements to authorities -- and even her prison time.