Bacanovic Is Barred From Brokerage Work

Martha Stewart’s former stockbroker, convicted of helping her lie about a 2001 stock sale, has been barred from working for brokers or investment advisors.

Peter Bacanovic and the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to the ban Friday.

Stewart and Bacanovic were each sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest after their convictions in March. They are free pending appeal.

“We’re happy to have this behind us, and we’re still moving forward on the appeals process,” Bacanovic spokesman Lou Colasuonno said.

Bacanovic would have to reapply to the SEC if he wanted to work again for a brokerage. It was not immediately clear whether he would have to go through a waiting period.

Prosecutors said Bacanovic tipped off Stewart that her friend Samuel D. Waksal was dumping shares of his biotechnology company, ImClone Systems Inc. Waksal had advance word of a negative government report on an ImClone cancer drug.

Stewart sold 3,928 ImClone shares on Dec. 27, 2001. She and Bacanovic maintained that she sold because they had a standing agreement to unload the stock when it fell to $60.

Waksal pleaded guilty to insider trading in the ImClone scandal and to separate tax fraud charges and is serving a seven-year prison sentence.