Martha Stewart jailed for five months

Celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart was sentenced yesterday to five months in federal prison and five months of house arrest for lying about a suspicious stock sale.

Speaking in a shaking voice before the sentencing, Ms Stewart made a brief plea for leniency to US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who could have given the 62-year-old businesswoman 16 months behind bars.

The judge recommended a minimum security prison in Connecticut, not far from one of Ms Stewart's posh homes, and ordered two years' supervised release and a $30,000 fine. But Ms Stewart does not have to surrender until an appeal is decided.

"This is a shameful day," said Ms Stewart, who built a catering company into a media and merchandise empire of lifestyle magazines, cookbooks and television shows. "I ask that when you judge me, you remember all the good I've done."

Clad in a dark pantsuit, Ms Stewart looked upset as the judge read the sentence but quickly regained her composure and kissed her daughter and her sister. She told reporters in the courtroom she was not surprised "at all" by the sentence.

Her voice was stronger and calmer as she addressed a crowd of media and supporters outside on the courthouse steps.

"I'll be back. Whatever I have to do in the next few months, I hope the months go by quickly," she said. "I'm used to all kinds of hard work, as you know, and I'm not afraid.

"I'm just very, very sorry that it's come to this, that a small personal matter has been able to be blown out of all proportion and with such venom... It's just terrible."

Ms Stewart was found guilty in March of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings - all stemming from her suspicious sale of stock in biotech company ImClone Systems Inc on December 27, 2001.

Prosecutors said the sale occurred after her stockbroker Peter Bacanovic ordered an assistant to tip Ms Stewart that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was dumping all his shares, knowing federal regulators were about to give a thumbs down to the company's anti-cancer drug.

While there was no case made that Ms Stewart engaged in insider trading, prosecutors said she and her broker lied to cover up the secret tip. Mr Waksal was sentenced to seven years in prison for insider trading.

The ensuing debacle wiped off $400 million in market capitalisation, or nearly half, in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the company she founded.