Celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart has been sentenced to five months in prison for lying about a suspicious stock sale.
Stewart (62), who built a catering company into a media empire, was found guilty in March of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings.
Martha Stewart leaves Federal Court in Manhattan after her sentencing today.
The judge also sentenced her to two years of supervised release and ordered her to pay a fine of $30,000. She is to remain free pending an appeal.
The case against Stewart stemmed from her suspicious sale of stock in biotech company ImClone Systems on December 27th, 2001.
Prosecutors said the sale occurred after her stockbroker, Mr Peter Bacanovic, ordered an assistant to tip Stewart that ImClone founder Mr Sam Waksal was dumping all his ImClone shares, knowing federal regulators were about to give a thumbs down to the company's anti-cancer drug.
Although there were no criminal charges accusing Stewart and Mr Bacanovic of insider trading, prosecutors said they conspired to cover up the secret tip. Mr Bacanovic is to be sentenced later today.