When the FBI Comes Calling…®
April 5, 2007
By Romina Maurino
Conrad Black's attempts to control image may further galvanize prosecutors
TORONTO (CP) - Conrad Black's attempts to retain some control over his image during his fraud trial by writing newspaper articles may have the unintended effect of galvanizing already determined U.S. prosecutors to seek a harsher sentence if he is convicted, observers say.
Black worked hard to convince anyone who would listen that he was an innocent businessman betrayed by friends, misled by advisers and unfairly targeted by an overzealous U.S. prosecutor in the weeks leading up to his trial. He has filed numerous motions with the Chicago court, granted interviews to journalists he'd previously ignored and written about his views of the charges in his former newspaper, the National Post.
He continued to write after the trial began, most notably in a letter to the London Times dismissing a column comparing him to Jay Gatsby, the doomed protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby."
Then a Black-penned piece about the Quebec election ran in the National Post last weekend and last week he made a surprise appearance at a chic Toronto literary party, where he delivered a speech comparing columnist George Jonas to Joseph Conrad and Samuel Beckett.
The decision to write a political column was "absolutely bizarre," hinting at a cavalier attitude that may further incense prosecutors, said Tom McPhail, a professor of media studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
The case against Black is being argued by four U.S. prosecutors working for the office of Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Fitzgerald is considered something of a bulldog known in justice circles as "the prosecutor who never rests."
"(Black) is facing a lifetime in jail - it's as if he's trivializing and, indeed, insulting the prosecutors and the judge," McPhail said.
"The prosecutors, among themselves, take it as an insult and I think this further emboldens (them) to go after him."
Douglas McNabb, a senior lawyer at McNabb Associates, said the rules of evidence will keep talk about Black's behaviour out of the trial but his antics could play a role in sentencing, should he be convicted.
"The fact that Mr. Black is involved in what some have suggested are shenanigans outside of the courtroom, I don't think would impact the approach the prosecutors would take with regard to the case," he said.
"(But) the assistant U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case could argue at sentencing that his behaviour manifested during the trial is further evidence that Mr. Black is one who needs to be punished to show him - and to show the world - that one can't get away with doing that that the jury said that he did (in its verdict)."
Lack of contrition, he added, may make a judge more inclined to give a defendant the higher end of the sentencing range as opposed to the lower one.
McPhail said the timing of Black's Quebec article was particularly unfortunate, given a recent focus on embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the botched firings of eight federal prosecutors.
"Because they're under a microscope now, because of Gonzales firing eight others, they have to prove themselves and by sheer chance it happens to be the Black trial that they'll have to use to prove their worth," McPhail said.
Gonzales' former chief of staff recently told a Senate hearing that he had tried to get Fitzgerald fired after he indicted U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's top aide, Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Fitzgerald secured a guilty verdict in that case and convicted Libby on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
The comments may have galvanized Fitzgerald "to make sure he comes up with a big victory, so that he doesn't look bad, or inept or whatever other criteria the White House is using to vet federal prosecutors across the U.S.," said McPhail.
While the unstable climate in the U.S. justice system hasn't had much attention in Canada, it has been front-and-centre south of the border.
Ronald Safer, a lawyer for Black co-defendant Mark Kipnis, wrote an opinion letter in The Chicago Tribune Tuesday defending Fitzgerald and decrying the Bush administration's rating of those lawyers "not on independence, energy, zeal or integrity, but on 'loyalty' to the White House." In the United States, the president appoints U.S. attorneys.
Fitzgerald "has proven to be impervious to political influence," Safer wrote, calling him "a vigorous and zealous prosecutor," while pointing out he disagrees with some of his office's prospective decisions.
One media report out of Chicago said prosecutors Eric Sussman and Jeffrey Cramer congratulated Safer on the article during a break from court, and Cramer joked that Safer was joining Black as a newspaper columnist.
Black is facing accusations of securities fraud and of using shareholder funds to pay for shopping excursions for his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, for a two-week vacation in Bora Bora, for refurbishing his Rolls Royce and other personal expenses. If convicted, he faces up to 101 years in prison.
Also charged are former Hollinger executives Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis. All four have pleaded not guilty, and the claims have yet to be proven in court.