Ex-media mogul Black convicted of fraud

Black avoided reporters’ questions as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Edward Greenspan, Black’s Canadian defense attorney, promised an appeal on “viable legal issues.”

“We came here to face 13 counts and an indictment. Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. They have been dismissed,” Greenspan said, reading from a statement and refusing to answer questions.

“We vehemently disagree with the government’s position on sentencing,” he said, but did not offer what he believes is a proper sentencing range.

Hollinger International, based in Chicago, was at one time one of the world’s largest publisher of community newspapers as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London and Israel’s Jerusalem Post.

At the core of the charges against Black was a strategy he arrived at starting in 1998 to sell off the bulk of the community papers, which were published in smaller cities across the United States and Canada.

Black and other Hollinger executives received millions of dollars in payments from the companies that bought the community papers in return for promises that they would not return to compete with the new owners.

Prosecutors said the executives pocketed the money, which they said belonged to shareholders, without telling Hollinger’s board of directors.

In the end, jurors convicted Black in connection with two sets of noncompete payments that made up three counts in the indictment.

The fourth count Black was convicted of involved the removal of documents from his Toronto offices after a court had ordered them frozen unless otherwise permitted by a court monitor.

The government’s star witness at the trial was F. David Radler, Black’s partner in building the Hollinger empire over three decades. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify in exchange for a lenient 29-month sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Black had said that he was busy with newspaper interests in Britain and eastern Canada and left most of the sales of community newspapers and noncompete arrangements to Radler. But Radler said that Black was well aware of how and why the money was being paid.

MORE FROM CORPORATE SCANDALS

Corporate Scandals Section Front

Charges dropped against Stockman Adviser gets 12 years in prison in fraud case Judge sentences ex-Refco CEO to 16 years Ex-Bear Stearns execs may face fraud charges Ex-CEO of Broadcom pleads not guilty Broadcom exec faces drug, conspiracy charges AIG sues ex-CEO Greenberg for breach of duty Appeals court orders new trial for Nacchio Lawyer gets 2 years for kickback scheme Corporate Casanova’s dirty secrets seeping out Corporate Scandals Section Front   Add Corporate Scandals headlines to your news reader: