NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The obstruction of justice trial against Martha Stewart resumes Monday, with more testimony from star witness Douglas Faneuil.
Faneuil, who will mount the witness stand for the fourth day Monday, said Thursday that he took part in a cover-up of Stewart's controversial sale of ImClone stock because he was afraid he would lose his job. The trial took a scheduled day off Friday.
The defense has been trying to undermine the credibility of Faneuil, the ex-Merrill Lynch brokerage assistant who says he tipped off Stewart in late 2001 that the CEO of ImClone Systems was trying to dump his stock.
Defense attorney David Apfel asked Thursday if his client, Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's former broker at Merrill, had told Faneuil his pay would be docked if he didn't lie to investigators. Faneuil responded, "I felt I would be fired if I didn't lie." Apfel objected, and Faneuil conceded he was not explicitly told he would lose his job if he didn't lie.
Faneuil said he lied to investigators for months about the stock trade out of fear and intimidation that left him "physically afraid'' of Bacanovic, according to Reuters.
Stewart and Bacanovic -- who say they had a long-standing pact to sell ImClone stock if shares fell below $60 -- are charged with conspiring to cover up the real reason behind the sale.
Faneuil pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for his part in the scheme and agreed to testify about Stewart's sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone on Dec. 27, 2001.
Apfel earlier Thursday pressed the witness about whether Bacanovic had bribed him with extra vacation time, airplane tickets and money to keep him quiet.
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 Ex-Merrill assistant Doug Faneuil testified Stewart told him to sell her ImClone stock after getting a tip ImClone's founder was trying to sell. CNNfn's Mary Snow reports.
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"I considered those gifts rewards,'' Faneuil replied, adding his boss had told him he was "doing a great job.''
Apfel also appeared to be trying to establish that Faneuil didn't like Stewart very much.
"I have never, ever been treated more rudely by a stranger on the telephone," Faneuil wrote in an e-mail in October 2001 that was admitted as a piece of evidence introduced by the defense. "She actually hung up on me."
In another e-mail, Faneuil wrote: "Martha yelled at me again today, but I snapped in her face and she actually backed down. Baby put Ms. Martha in her place."
Faneuil described the atmosphere at Merrill as "schizophrenic" in the months after Stewart's ImClone sale, where he was sometimes intimidated by his boss. "I really wasn't aware of being physically afraid of Peter until the day I came forward,'' he said, according to Reuters.
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Apfel finished his questioning Thursday and Robert Morvillo, Stewart's attorney, is due to start his cross examination Monday morning.
Neil Getnick, a criminal lawyer specializing in fraud cases, said Faneuil came off well before the jury.
"The witness was calm. He was well prepped," Getnick, a former Manhattan prosecutor, told CNNfn. "Apfel was frustrated. He couldn't pigeonhole the witness."
Faneuil's testimony is seen as crucial to the government's contention that Stewart sold her ImClone shares only after getting a tip that Waksal and his family were dumping the stock.
On Wednesday, Faneuil said Bacanovic told him to call Stewart after he learned that Waksal was trying to sell.
"We have no information on the company, but Peter thought you'd want to act on Sam's (Waksal) trying to sell his shares," Faneuil testified Wednesday he told Stewart by telephone. He said that, after asking about Waksal's activities and for ImClone's price, Stewart said, "I want to sell all my shares."
He then described how Bacanovic and Stewart tried to cover up why Stewart sold.
Asked Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Karen Patton Seymour why he eventually came forward to change his story. Faneuil said: "I couldn't continue to do this. I lied to the SEC on two different occasions. The cover-up was part of my daily existence, and I just couldn't take it anymore."
Defense lawyers Wednesday started trying to undermine the 28-year-old's testimony by asking about his drug use.
Under questioning from Apfel, Faneuil said he used ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs. Asked if he'd ever taken any of these drugs on the job, Faneuil said no, adding that since late January 2002 he's only smoked marijuana.
Stewart, the lifestyle expert who founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO: Research, Estimates), faces up to 30 years in prison while Bacanovic could be sentenced to 25 years if convicted on all counts, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Waksal is serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to charges of trying to sell ImClone (IMCL: Research, Estimates) stock a day before the government said it refused to review the company's application for a new cancer drug, Erbitux -- news that started ImClone shares tumbling.
-- with CNNfn's Kelly Marshall and staff and wire reports
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