Martha Wants Co. To Pay Legal Tab

Imprisoned homemaking mogul Martha Stewart has asked the company she founded to reimburse her for $3.7 million in legal bills for a single criminal count that was eventually thrown out.

The company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., disclosed the request in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

The $3.7 million figure applies to Stewart's defense on a charge that she propped up the company's stock price, and therefore her own wealth, in 2002 by declaring her innocence in a personal stock scandal.

A federal judge threw out that count, the only charge directly related to her job duties, before it went to a jury. Stewart and her ex-stockbroker were convicted in March of lying to investigators about why Stewart sold ImClone Systems Inc. stock in 2001. In all, she was convicted of four counts including conspiracy and making false statements.

Stewart, who is appealing her conviction, is in the second month of a five-month prison sentence at a minimum-security federal prison for women in Alderson, West Virginia.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filing said the company and Stewart had agreed to submit the reimbursement claim to an "independent expert on Delaware law." The filing did not detail on how the cost of defending the one count was calculated.

The media company also said it believed insurance would cover the money if the independent expert found the company owed Stewart the money.

Former WorldCom Inc. chief Bernard Ebbers, who goes on trial in January on fraud and conspiracy charges, is seeking reimbursement from that company for legal bills that have already topped $2 million.