CNN's Late Edition yesterday included a discussion of the Sam Waksal sentencing and Martha Stewart Indictment. Joe DiGenova, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, now in private practice, had this to say about Waksal:

But he got exactly what he deserved. And remember, he pleaded guilty in order to spare his father and his daughter from criminal charges.

By the way, unbeknownst to us until very recently, according to published reports, he is cooperating with prosecutors, which means he may be providing evidence against Martha Stewart or helping in that case somehow, which means that he could possibly get his seven-year sentence reduced by cooperating.

We've done a Lexis check and cannot find any published reports that Sam Waksal is now cooperating with prosecutors. If any readers do, please post them in the comments.

The way we see it, the only way Sam Waksal testifies against Martha is if it is against his will. If the Government subpoenas Waksal, he will assert his Fifth Amendment privilege as he has not been charged with wrongdoing with respect to Martha and could have some liability there. The Government will respond by granting him immunity from prosecution for any activities involving Martha (or Bacnovic). Once immunized, Waksal will no longer have a 5th Amendment claim. If Waksal refuses to testify at that point, he would be held in contempt of court and sentenced. The contempt sentence would run consecutive to the 7 years he is serving now. That could make him change his mind and decide to cooperate.

We don't think the Government will go that route just for Martha for the very simple reason that the Government doesn't allege Sam told Martha to dump the ImClone stock. Sam allegedly told Bacnovic who told his assistant who told Martha. The assistant is the one who cooperated. If Sam didn't talk to Martha directly, what evidence can he provide as to why Martha sold her stock?

But the Government might immunize Waksal to get his testimony against Bacnovic. This would make it critical for Martha to get a severance (separate trial) from Bacnovic. Severances are pretty tough to come by in federal court.

Anyway, we still wonder what published reports Joe DiGenova read that say Waksal is cooperating now in exchange for a sentence reduction. We don't buy it.