Broker refused to be a rat

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2004 | by Thor Valdmanis

NEW YORK -- Despite unrelenting pressure from federal prosecutors to turn against Martha Stewart, former Merrill Lynch broker Peter Bacanovic refused to squeal.

The even-tempered adviser with chiseled good looks upheld the unwritten code of Wall Street: Never rat out your client. But the decision proved disastrous.

Convicted Friday on four counts of conspiring to cover up Stewart's sale of ImClone stock, Bacanovic faces a lifetime ban from the securities industry and an estimated 10 to 16 months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines.

"He went into this trial with his eyes wide open, knowing full well that if he and Martha lost, they were facing the very real prospect of jail time," says former U.S. prosecutor Robert Mintz. "That kind of loyalty,...