Samuel D. Waksal

Samuel D. Waksal is an immunologist and businessman who founded the biopharmaceutical company ImClone Systems in 1984. He also served as ImClone's CEO.

He was arrested June 12, 2002 on insider trading charges. On October 15, he plead guilty to charges of securities fraud , bank fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice , and perjury.

On March 3, 2003 he plead guilty on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud for avoiding $1.2 million in sales taxes on $15 million in artwork. The art included works by Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, and Willem de Kooning, purchased between June 2000 and October 2001. He did not pay the necessary taxes at the time of purchase, but did pay the taxes in fall 2002.

On June 10, 2003, Waksal was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison and ordered to pay more than $4 million in fines and back taxes, all the maximum punishments allowable under law. Waksal is not eligible for parole. He is curtrently serving time in Schuylkill Federal Correctional Institute .

He dated Martha Stewart and her daughter Alexis.

External links

• ImClone Founder Pleads Guilty to Avoiding Sales Taxes, The New York Times, March 3, 2003
• ImClone founder Waksal sentenced to 7 years in prison, San Francisco Chronicle, June 10, 2003
• Sam Waksal: I Was Arrogant, CBS News, October 2, 2003