Tangled Webs

James B. Stewart, “Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff” The Penguin Press, 2011 441 pp
James B. Stewart is the author of Den of Thieves, an investigation into insider trading on Wall Street in the 1980s. He is a former senior editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Stewart believes white collar Americans lie to law enforcement and the court system more than in the past. He illustrates his points in what he calls a surge of concerted, deliberate lying by people at the top of their fields, like Martha Stewart, Bernie Madoff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Barry Bonds. As these were all cases I had familiarity with through the press, the book was very interesting and corrected many misconceptions I had about some of the details of these cases. Stewart’s theme for this book is that our entire justice system is at risk as it depends on people telling the truth to law enforcement and the courts.

Stewart says the trend of high-profile cases where the defendant ends up charged not for the original crime but for perjury sends a negative message to the U.S. justice system and the rest of the world. Of the four celebrity cases he examines, Stewart explains that other than Madoff, the rest were charged not with the original misdeed, but with lying. Scooter Libby, for example, wasn't charged with leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, but with perjury, making false statements to federal investigators and obstruction of justice. Barry Bonds was recently convicted of obstruction of justice, not for taking illegal drugs. And Martha Stewart was charged with obstruction of justice, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy — though not directly of insider trading.