Newly appointed FBI Director James Comey once sent a nice rich lady to jail.
Comey brought the charges in the Martha Stewart obstruction of justice case back in 2003 when he was the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, the New York Times reported at the time.
During a press conference announcing that the domestic goddess had been charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice, Comey said, “This criminal case is about lying — lying to the F.B.I., lying to the S.E.C., lying to investors.”
“Martha Stewart is being prosecuted not for who she is, but because of what she did,” he continued.
Stewart was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lying to federal officers in 2005. She was sentenced to five months in a white collar prison in Alderson, W.V. and five months under house arrest. After her sentencing, Stewart compared herself to Nelson Mandela, saying, “I’m a really good camper. I can sleep on the ground. … There are many, many good people who have gone to prison … look at Nelson Mandela.”
Stewart supporters maintain that prosectors were looking to make an example out of Stewart.
These days, Stewart is still super rich and famous and is more well-known for the sweater she knitted in prison and wore the day of her release than for the actual case itself.