WALL STREET: With Friends Like This . . .

Even in the frenzied world of Wall Street dealmakers, speculator Salim (“Sandy”) Lewis stood out as a talkaholic with a penchant for dispensing advice and hatching colorful schemes. Last week a federal grand jury in Manhattan charged Lewis with manipulating stock in an apparent attempt to help out American Express and its chairman, James Robinson, a longtime Lewis friend.

The indictment accuses Lewis of conspiring with Los Angeles broker Boyd Jefferies in 1986 to drive up the stock price of Fireman’s Fund insurance company from 37 7/8 to 38 just before American Express sold 9 million shares. While Jefferies confessed last year to violating securities laws, Lewis denies any wrongdoing. Neither Robinson nor American Express is expected to be charged. If convicted, Lewis could face up to five years in prison on each of 22 counts.