An accountant and a former executive of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. have paid fines to settle charges of insider trading in connection with the of Sirius reaching a $500 million deal in 2004 for shock jock Howard Stern. Gary Herwitz, the former president of Mahoney Cohen & Co., Howard Stern's longtime accounting firm, and Tracey Stanyer, a former vp at Sirius, both agreed to pay fines for using inside information to profit in trading in Sirius shares before the Stern deal was announced on Oct. 4, 2004. The announcement of the five-year deal with Stern was enormously positive news for Sirius, which is locked in a battle with rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. to draw in paying listeners with premium radio programming.

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