Mr Waksal, his friends and family have all come into the spotlight

Zvi Fuks, 68, and Sabina Ben-Yehuda, 51, are accused of selling their shares in ImClone after Mr Waksal told them about an upcoming company announcement.

ImClone shares tumbled on the news, and a police probe ended with Mr Waksal and lifestyle guru Ms Stewart both in jail.

Lawyers for Mr Fuks and Ms Ben-Yehuda denied the charges.

"We believe the charges are entirely without merit," said Stephen Fishbein, a lawyer for Ms Ben-Yehuda.

Mr Fuks's counsel Joel Cohen said his client was "not guilty and will be vindicated".

Ms Ben-Yehuda, who worked at an investment fund founded by Mr Waksal, is said to have a close personal relationship with Mr Fuks, who is chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital.

If convicted the two face a maximum prison term of 15 years and fines of up to $1.25m (�649,500).

Good friends

The charges allege that Mr Waksal warned Ms Ben-Yehuda before the stock market opened on 27 December, 2001, that the US Food and Drug Administration would not approve ImClone's cancer treatment drug Erbitux.

Ms Ben-Yehuda is then said to have tipped off Mr Fuks, who sold all of his 89,173 ImClone shares worth about $5.3m.

Ms Ben-Yehuda allegedly offloaded 1,178 shares for about $73,453.

ImClone got the FDA's rejection on 28 December, and the announcement smacked the company's shares 16% lower.

The fall out from the scandal has dominated headlines, with the media mainly focusing on the fate of Martha Stewart.

Stewart and her former broker, Peter Bacanovic, were convicted in March 2004 for conspiring to lie about the reasons behind the sale of her ImClone shares on 27 December, 2001.

She was released from prison last week after serving five months.