New York ? Martha Stewart sold stock based on “a secret tip” that no one else had, then told an avalanche of lies to save her reputation and enormous fortune, prosecutors said Tuesday as they laid out their case against the homemaking queen.

Stewart’s attorney insisted the case was based on “speculation, surmise and guesswork” and suggested the government’s pursuit of the domestic style-setter was reminiscent of George Orwell’s Big Brother novel “1984.”

The jury of eight women and four men listened to three hours of opening statements that outlined starkly different portrayals of Stewart’s sale of nearly 4,000 shares of biotechnology company ImClone Systems on Dec. 27, 2001.

The government contends Stewart, on her way to a vacation in Mexico, was tipped that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was trying to dump his shares, then ordered the sale of her own stock.

Federal prosecutor Karen Patton Seymour said Stewart then conspired with her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, to tell a series of cover-up lies about the sale.

“The reason that Martha Stewart dumped her shares is because she was told a secret,” Seymour said. “A secret tip that no other investors in ImClone had.”

Stewart faces up to 30 years in prison on charges that include obstruction of justice and securities fraud, but she would get a far lighter penalty if convicted. Bacanovic also is charged with five counts and faces 25 years.

Attorneys for Stewart and Bacanovic aimed to convince jurors that the two defendants had done nothing out of the ordinary for a diligent broker and responsible client, arguing they had decided six days before the ImClone sale to get rid of the stock if it fell to $60.

Waksal later admitted he was tipped that federal regulators were about to issue a negative report on ImClone’s star product, the cancer drug Erbitux. That report sent the stock plummeting.

Stewart attorney Robert Morvillo pointed out that 7 million shares of rapidly falling ImClone were sold on the same day Stewart unloaded hers. And Bacanovic attorney Richard Strassberg said the broker made a paltry $450 on the sale.

“They have rushed to judgment to bring a case against Ms. Stewart, and in that rush to judgment they have charged an innocent man,” Strassberg said.

Morvillo never flatly denied that Stewart was tipped to the Waksal sale. But he described Stewart in December 2001 as weary from the holidays, and finally willing to follow Bacanovic’s repeated suggestions to get rid of ImClone.

“Same government — leak it on one side, prosecute it on the other,” Morvillo said disdainfully. “I think that George Orwell was just about 20 years too early,” he said, alluding to the novel “1984.”