Stewart witness avoids jail sentence
A former brokerage assistant who helped Martha Stewart make her fateful stock trade and later emerged as a key government witness against the homemaking expert was fined €1,800 but spared both prison and probation today for accepting a payoff during the government’s investigation.
US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum imposed the fine against Douglas Faneuil one week after she sentenced Stewart to five months in prison and five months of home detention for lying to authorities.
“I want to apologise for my mistakes,” Faneuil told Cedarbaum. “Thankfully I’ve learned my lesson.”
Faneuil, 28, worked at the Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch as an assistant to Stewart’s stock broker and co-defendant, Peter Bacanovic, who was convicted along with Stewart and received the same sentence.
Faneuil had faced up to a year in prison after pleading guilty to the misdemeanour charge of accepting a payoff – extra holiday time and travel expenses. Prosecutors recommended he be spared jail time after his testimony helped them secure Stewart’s conviction in federal court.
The government contended Bacanovic plied Faneuil with the extra holiday time and airline tickets in exchange for supporting the story about a 60 stock order.
