Martha, in her own words - Why did Martha Stewart take so long to give her side of the story? Now that we're able to hear all the details, it does sound a lot more plausible that maybe she wasn't trying to hide anything. She honestly may not know have know what going on with Waskal and was just dumping the stock. But, then why go into a media cocoon and not defend yourself? I guess it goes against her philosophy of tight control, but the lack of a key message from her let the NY Post and Newsweek and everyone else fill the void with speculation and unflattering pictures.

Especially when I hear what the allegations have cost Martha (compared to the relatively miniscule amount she made from the stock sale) I question whether a woman as savvy as she is would have made the error to engage in insider trading. The New Yorker article notes that the investigation is estimated by Martha to have cost "about four hundred million dollars" from the decline in value of eponymous stock as well as legal fees and lost opportunities. Would the losses be less significant if she'd just spoken up earlier and had a sitdown with Barbara Walters? Doesn't see need to reach her K-mart crowd as well as the New Yorker readers?