As congressional investigators dug into the troubled biotech firm Im-Clone in June, they had a simple but explosive question for Martha Stewart, a friend of former ImClone CEO Samuel Wale-sal's: Did she receive inside information that prompted her to sell her ImClone stock just a day before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected ImClone's cancer drug and sent the share price tumbling? Eager to keep Stewart from testifying at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing June 13, sources say, her lawyers agreed to respond in writing. The letter, which arrived the day before the hearing, explained that her $228,000 sale had been "prompted solely" by an earlier arrangement with her broker to sell ImClone's stock if it ever fell below $60 a share. Her attorneys stated that their information was "based on a thorough review of the circumstances."
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