An important figure in the Martha Stewart stock-fraud trial collapsed at a train station and died, just two days after giving testimony that appeared to damage the defense.
Jeremiah Gutman, an 80-year-old lawyer who once represented the star witness for the prosecution, collapsed Wednesday on a Metro-North platform in Hastings in suburban Westchester County.
He was found unconscious on a staircase and died later at a hospital, Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said Thursday. The cause was an apparent heart attack, associates of the lawyer said.
Gutman represented Merrill Lynch & Co. assistant Douglas Faneuil in early 2002, shortly after Faneuil handled Stewart's sale of nearly 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems stock.
Faneuil initially told investigators Stewart sold after he gave her a stock quote. But he changed his story in 2002, saying broker Peter Bacanovic had ordered him to tip Stewart that ImClone CEO Sam Waksal was trying to sell his own shares.
Gutman testified on Monday, called as a witness by Bacanovic's lawyers - but his testimony appeared to backfire on the defense as he backed up essential pieces of Faneuil's story.
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