Ms Stewart has several new business ventures
planned |
US
homemaking icon Martha Stewart has been released from a low-security
jail after serving five months for her role in a shares scandal.
She was flown home in a private jet to complete the remainder of
her sentence - five months under house arrest.
Shares in her firm Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia rose $2.15 to
$36.10 in early trading on Friday.
Her movements will be monitored by an electronic bracelet but she
will be free to resume her business activities.
"The experience of the last five months... has been life altering
and life affirming," Ms Stewart said in a statement issued on her
website.
"Someday, I hope to have the chance to talk more about all that
has happened, the extraordinary people I have met here and all that
I have learned."
On the payroll
Her downfall was selling nearly 4,000 shares in ImClone Systems
after a long-time friend tipped her off that a negative government
report about the company's cancer drug was due to be released.
Ms Stewart, who made millions selling housekeeping advice and
accessories, was convicted of lying about the share deal.
Ms Stewart, 63, will now be able to leave her 153-acre estate in
Katonah, New York, for up to 48 hours a week to carry on her work.
Her plans include a role in property magnate Donald Trump's hit
US business reality TV show The Apprentice and creative input to
Martha Stewart Living.
She will also appear in a revival of her homemaking TV show and
her company will resume paying her a salary of $900,000 (£471,800) a
year, according to Associated Press.
However, her conviction means she will not be able to lead her
business empire again - unless granted permission to do so by the US
Securities and Exchange Commission, the country's financial
watchdog.
High-profile departure
Ms Stewart left prison in a sports utility vehicle, which took
her to a private jet.
A two-vehicle motorcade sped her out of prison in Alderson, West
Virginia, in the early hours of Friday morning to a nearby airstrip,
where supporters cheered her on as she boarded the plane.
Her company's shares had rallied while she was in jail amid hopes
that she would make a comeback after serving her sentence.
Ms Stewart's incarceration is also said to have benefited the
economy of Alderson, whose residents have cashed in on their
celebrity inmate with the sale of novelty souvenirs.
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