Getting caught like Martha Stewart seemed a bad thing to accused inside trader Danielle Chiesi.
"I'm dead if this leaks. I really am . . . and my career is over. I'll be like Martha f- – -ing Stewart," she allegedly said on wiretaps recorded by the feds.
Chiesi, 43, an Upper East Sider, faces six counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud in an indictment announced yesterday. She could end up imprisoned for decades.
Chiesi, who worked for New Castle Funds LLC, a former Bear Stearns affiliate, expressed fear in wiretapped talks of being caught for gathering insider information, which she used for her own company's trading and shared with hedge-fund kingpin Raj Rajaratnam.
She made the Martha Stewart crack in August 2008 discussing inside data about computer-chip maker AMD, the feds say. Stewart was convicted of insider trading in 2004 and served five months in prison.
Chiesi allegedly expressed similar fears to Rajaratnam a week earlier that authorities would learn she'd spread inside data about AMD and IBM.
"If it leaks, I think I'm out of business . . . Because . . . who knows IBM? And who, who's in bed with AMD? Put Danielle's name on the f- – -in' ticket," she said.
Chiesi was freed on $2 million bond at a Manhattan federal court hearing yesterday. Her lawyer, Alan Kaufman, said she plans to plead not guilty at an appearance in November.
In the elevator afterward, her mom hugged and kissed her. "Please don't do that," Chiesi said.
Chiesi was a go-between, gathering inside information for Rajaratnam and her own firm's trades, the feds say.
She and Rajaratnam allegedly profited from information they got from Robert Moffat, an IBM senior vice president who allegedly provided data about a possible IBM merger with Sun Microsystems that led to a $1 million windfall for New Castle.
Chiesi and Rajaratnam discussed getting Moffat work at another firm. "Put him in some company where we can trade well," Rajaratnam said.
"I know, I know. I'm thinking that, too," Chiesi replied.