EXCLUSIVE: Martha Stewart Reveals Costly Fallout From Insider Trading
Martha Stewart has reflected on the financial and personal toll of her past insider trading scandal.
Oct. 29 2026, Published 6:30 a.m. ET
Martha Stewart has confessed her infamous legal battle left a billion-dollar hole in her fortune, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 85-year-old homemaking queen stunned listeners of the Other People's Business podcast by revealing why she doesn't own the kind of private jet enjoyed by fellow entrepreneur Kim Kardashian.
Martha Stewart Reveals $1Billion Loss After Insider Trading Scandal
Martha Stewart cited roughly $1 billion in legal-related losses when explaining why she lacks a private jet like Kim Kardashian's.
"I fell in a hole, and I lost about a billion dollars in my legal problems," Stewart confessed. "The lawyers took me to the cleaners, and they were horrible."
That "hole" was dug during the fallout from the stock trading scandal that rocked Stewart's media and merchandising empire in the early 2000s.
She was accused of illegally trading on inside information after selling nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems in December 2001. The stock plunged following news that the Food and Drug Administration had rejected the company's application for its cancer drug Erbitux.
In 2004, Stewart was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. She was sentenced to five months behind bars and served her time in federal prison before completing home confinement.
Martha Stewart's Billion-Dollar Empire Rocked by Scandal
Before the scandal, Stewart reportedly earned $65million annually in royalties from her Kmart deal.
The scandal sent shock waves through the business empire she had painstakingly built – and Stewart now says the financial damage was staggering.
Before her fall, she was raking in eye-popping sums, including a reported $65million a year in royalties from her massive Kmart deal. Her books, magazine, television empire and merchandise had made her one of America's most successful lifestyle moguls.
Then came the legal nightmare.
Martha Stewart Declares She's Back
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Describing her financial comeback, Stewart said commercials remain lucrative.
But Stewart insisted she has clawed her way back. Now, she said, making money in the influencer landscape looks different. Instead of a traditional cooking show, she does reality TV, which "popularizes everything else you do."
"I do commercials still," she added. "Commercials are very lucrative."
"I'm back," she declared. "I'm pretty good."
