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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Sam Waksal's Last Day of Freedom
Aired July 22, 2003 - 07:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: ImClone founder Sam Waksal goes to prison this week. What will his new life be like? Let's find out from Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, today is the last day of freedom for Sam Waksal, the founder and former CEO of ImClone Systems. Of course, that company at the heart of the Martha Stewart scandal. Tomorrow, he begins his 7-year, 3-month sentence at Schuylkill Correctional facility in Minersville, Pennsylvania. Yes, it's sort of a country club prison; it's true. It's a minimum security job. And, you know, it's the kind of thing that burns Jack Cafferty up.
But, you know, here are some of the things. He's got to work. He's got work for 16 to 40 cents an hour from 7:30 in the morning to 3:30. And what's he going to be doing? Cleaning pots and pans and mowing grass and mopping floors. That's the stuff that the new guys have to do. It's a dorm-like facility, so it's like a military barracks. Communal bathroom. But it does have handball, pool table, TV room, baseball diamond, music room. And he does get a perk. This is interesting. Three hundred minutes of phone time per month.
He wanted to go to this facility in Florida, which was apparently even cushier, but this will have to do. I'm hoping we're going to get pictures of this place tomorrow. We're going to get some people out there to take some shots.
O'BRIEN: Any armed guards there?
SERWER: We don't know about armed guards. Maybe we'll see them standing in the turrets with the guns. I don't think there is stuff like that there, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: They don't -- people just don't break out. It's too nice.
SERWER: Why would you want to? No, actually, you know, that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of getting up there -- I don't know. It's going to be different from doing the state dinners at the White House and partying with Mick Jagger, that's for sure, which is what he did before.
O'BRIEN: It's not so horrible apparently.
SERWER: No, not so horrible.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three hundred on the phone? Who's he going to call? His broker?
SERWER: Yes. his broker, very good. You knew that, right. Who are you going to call?
O'BRIEN: That was a good one. I like that.
SERWER: Good.
O'BRIEN: Do we have time for the markets in two seconds or less?
SERWER: A bad day yesterday, and we just saw a lot of selling. Merck and other stocks like that reporting some weak numbers. Today, though, futures are up, so we're seeing and sawing.
O'BRIEN: And we will see.
SERWER: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks.
SERWER: OK, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired July 22, 2003 - 07:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: ImClone founder Sam Waksal goes to prison this week. What will his new life be like? Let's find out from Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, today is the last day of freedom for Sam Waksal, the founder and former CEO of ImClone Systems. Of course, that company at the heart of the Martha Stewart scandal. Tomorrow, he begins his 7-year, 3-month sentence at Schuylkill Correctional facility in Minersville, Pennsylvania. Yes, it's sort of a country club prison; it's true. It's a minimum security job. And, you know, it's the kind of thing that burns Jack Cafferty up.
But, you know, here are some of the things. He's got to work. He's got work for 16 to 40 cents an hour from 7:30 in the morning to 3:30. And what's he going to be doing? Cleaning pots and pans and mowing grass and mopping floors. That's the stuff that the new guys have to do. It's a dorm-like facility, so it's like a military barracks. Communal bathroom. But it does have handball, pool table, TV room, baseball diamond, music room. And he does get a perk. This is interesting. Three hundred minutes of phone time per month.
He wanted to go to this facility in Florida, which was apparently even cushier, but this will have to do. I'm hoping we're going to get pictures of this place tomorrow. We're going to get some people out there to take some shots.
O'BRIEN: Any armed guards there?
SERWER: We don't know about armed guards. Maybe we'll see them standing in the turrets with the guns. I don't think there is stuff like that there, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: They don't -- people just don't break out. It's too nice.
SERWER: Why would you want to? No, actually, you know, that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of getting up there -- I don't know. It's going to be different from doing the state dinners at the White House and partying with Mick Jagger, that's for sure, which is what he did before.
O'BRIEN: It's not so horrible apparently.
SERWER: No, not so horrible.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three hundred on the phone? Who's he going to call? His broker?
SERWER: Yes. his broker, very good. You knew that, right. Who are you going to call?
O'BRIEN: That was a good one. I like that.
SERWER: Good.
O'BRIEN: Do we have time for the markets in two seconds or less?
SERWER: A bad day yesterday, and we just saw a lot of selling. Merck and other stocks like that reporting some weak numbers. Today, though, futures are up, so we're seeing and sawing.
O'BRIEN: And we will see.
SERWER: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks.
SERWER: OK, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
