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FEDS PROBE STERN PAL'S SIRIUS CASH WINDFALL
By TIM ARANGO
March 2, 2005 -- Investigators looking into insider-trading allegations in the blockbuster deal between Howard Stern and Sirius Radio are checking out reported boasts by the shock jock's limo driver that he profited from the deal, The Post has learned. The announcement last Oct. 5 that Stern would ditch Infinity Broadcasting for Sirius sent shares of the satellite broadcaster skyrocketing.
The next day, Stern said on-air that his driver, Ronnie Mund - known on the show as "Ronnie the limo driver" - bragged in the studio about how he had bought Sirius stock cheap before his boss joined the company.
The Securities and Exchange Commission apparently took notice, and sources say the feds are trying to determine if Mund had inside information about the deal.
Before Stern's move to Sirius had been announced, there had been speculation in the press that he might flee his current home at Infinity for the satellite broadcaster. But the feds are trying to find out if anyone had nonpublic information that the move was a done deal and profited from it.
New York gossip journalist Chaunce Hayden, editor of "Steppin' Out" magazine and a frequent guest on Stern's show, has already been subpoenaed to answer questions about what he heard in Stern's studio around the time of the October announcement.
Hayden faced questioning from SEC lawyers last week, but declined comment on the proceedings.
Sirius, meanwhile, has said, "We have no reason to believe this matter involves Sirius or any actions of its officers, directors or employees, and neither Sirius nor any of its officers, directors or employees have received a subpoena in this matter."
Mund could not be reached for comment.
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