Disgraced trader Danielle Chiesi’s worst fear — to end up behind bars like “Martha f–ing Stewart” — came true yesterday when a Manhattan federal judge sentenced her to two-and-a-half years in prison for sharing illegal stock tips with her hedge fund pals.
In the highest-profile sentencing since the government’s insider trading crackdown started three years ago, federal judge Richard Holwell sentenced the former beauty queen to a 30-month prison term — plus two years of supervised release, 250 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine.
The punishment was well below the 37- to 47-month prison term recommended by prosecutors, and it prompted the 45-year-old blonde to jump up and down in the courtroom and hug her lawyer.
Before her arrest, however, Chiesi, pictured at right, was caught on government wiretaps lamenting the thought of winding up like the doyen of domesticity, Martha Stewart, who served five months in jail for lying to federal investigators about a stock sale.
“I’m dead if this leaks. I really am … and my career is over. I’ll be like Martha f–ing Stewart,” Chiesi said on an FBI wiretap.
Chiesi could find herself in the same lockup as Stewart, as Judge Holwell recommended she be sent to the same 84-year-old Alderson, WV, prison at which Stewart served her time.
Chiesi, an admitted substance abuser, pleaded guilty in January to sharing illegal stock tips with her former New Castle boss, Mark Kurland, and her billionaire hedge fund pal, Raj Rajaratnam.
Chiesi’s lawyer, Alan Kaufman, sought to lessen her prison time by arguing that she carried out her illegal acts at the direction of Kurland, who was also her lover for 20 years.
Prosecutors, however, dismissed this notion by bringing up an affair Chiesi had with tipster Bob Moffat, a former IBM executive who pleaded guilty in the case and was recently released from jail.
Rajaratnam, who was convicted on 14 counts of insider trading in May, will be sentenced on Sept. 27. Kurland is serving 27 months in federal lockup.