why did martha stewart go to jail

Martha Stewart went to jail because she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements related to an insider trading scandal involving her sale of ImClone Systems stock in 2001. She was accused of acting on non-public information about the stock and then lying to federal investigators about it. In 2004, following a six-week trial, she was convicted and sentenced to five months in prison, five months of home confinement, and two years of probation, along with a $30,000 fine. The charges stemmed not directly from insider trading itself (which the government could not conclusively prove) but primarily from lying to investigators and obstructing justice during the investigation of the stock sale.