Domestic Diva Martha Stewart Really a Convicted

¶ … domestic diva Martha Stewart really a convicted criminal?

Martha Stewart is a household name -- not only because this icon of home decor and stylish living is awaiting sentencing for allegedly lying to investigators about the reasons she sold shares of a biotechnology company more than two years ago and faces the probability of a prison term -- but chiefly because she is revered as one of the most successful self-made female business owners in American history. She rose from her working-class roots to create a multimillion-dollar enterprise with a personal net worth of close on $2-billion, by selling America good taste.

For years the name Martha Stewart personified the ideal of family life and home decor. Millions of American consumers imitated her ideas of how to successfully juggle domestic and work responsibilities by adopting a standard of living that personified idyllic family life. According to the Martha Stewart viewpoint all that is required is patience and work, attention to detail, the ability to prepare scrumptious meals, the crafting of knickknacks and the skill to color coordinate furniture, soft furnishings, and tableware. Likewise, her business success also inspired the respect of other business professionals and inspired aspirant entrepreneurs. However, many families with two working parents - burdened by domestic and financial obligations - did not share her proposal of American middle-class perfection, believing that it was an unattainable ideal.

Martha Stewart's meteoric rise to fame and fortune began when she became one of the first female stockbrokers on Wall Street and through her business amassed a fortune. She also ran her own catering concern and published several books on entertaining. The climb up the corporate ladder toward establishing the Martha Stewart Empire began when she initiated a product partnership with Kmart and published a magazine called Martha Stewart Living. The name Martha Stewart became a national commodity when she developed her own syndicated cable TV show. In 1999 she combined her numerous enterprises - magazines, radio and television programs, household products and Internet sites -- to establish the company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She owns about 61% of the stock.

However, the optimistic public reputation that the Martha Stewart Empire represented was put to the test in 2002 when securities investigators began looking into the company's sale of 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems on Dec. 27, 2001 -- one day before the Food and Drug Administration made an announcement about an ImClone drug that sent stocks plummeting. A federal grand jury in Manhattan indicted Stewart and her former Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic on June 4, 2003.