By Devlin Barrett
The Associated Press

SAMUEL WAKSAL FILE

Waksal Birth date and place: Born in Paris, April 8, 1947. Moved with his family in the early 1950s to Dayton, Ohio. Home: SoHo loft in Manhattan, two homes in the Hamptons, Long Island. Career: Scientist and researcher with a doctorate in immunobiology. Undergraduate and graduate degrees from Ohio State University. From 1977-1985 held research positions at Stanford University Medical School, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine. Started a now-defunct Web venture, ibeauty.com, with several investors. Sam's, a restaurant he co-owned with movie producer Stephen Crisman and Crisman's actress wife Mariel Hemingway, went bankrupt in 1993. Hobbies: A $20 million art collection. Civic duties: Raised money for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign. Chairman of the New York Council for the Humanities. Marital status: Divorced.

NEW YORK - Samuel Waksal, the jet-setting scientist-entrepreneur who founded ImClone Systems, pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank and securities fraud in a mushrooming scandal that also threatens his friend and investor Martha Stewart.

Mr. Waksal, 55, became the second person to plead guilty in the federal probe of insider trading of the biotech company's stock.

Mr. Waksal did not implicate Ms. Stewart in his plea, and the plea was not part of an agreement to cooperate with authorities.

In fact, prosecutors did not agree to dismiss other charges still pending against Mr. Waksal and indicated that they were widening the probe.

In an unusual move, prosecutors said they are investigating previously undisclosed sales of $30 million worth of ImClone stock by an unidentified Waksal associate that may result in new insider trading charges against him and others.

"Dr. Waksal may have tipped others who sold stock," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Schachter said in Manhattan federal court. He said the $30 million in sales began just after a phone conversation between Mr. Waksal and the seller. Mr. Schachter also said a "close friend" of Mr. Waksal quickly dumped $600,000 worth of stock.

Mr. Waksal pleaded guilty Tuesday to six counts - including securities fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice and perjury - in a scheme to tip off his daughter, Aliza, to unload ImClone stock before it plunged on bad news from the Food and Drug Administration.

"I've made some terrible mistakes and I deeply regret what has happened," Mr. Waksal said outside court.

He remained free on bail until sentencing in January. ImClone prosecutors continue to focus attention on Ms. Stewart and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic. The home decorating entrepreneur and Mr. Bacanovic, a Merrill Lynch broker, have denied wrongdoing and have not been charged.