When the FBI Comes Calling…®

November 22, 2005

Black expected to skip U.S. court hearing

Embattled press baron Conrad Black, who was charged last week with eight counts of mail and securities fraud and faces up to 40 years in prison if found guilty on every count, was not intending to appear at his arraignment hearing today in Chicago, a person close to the case said.

After unsealing an indictment that charged Black with involvement in an $83.8 million US fraud at his former publishing company Hollinger International Inc., U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald issued a warrant for Black's arrest and scheduled a hearing for this morning.

Prosecutors said that Black "lived large" at the expense of company shareholders.

Black has denied any wrongdoing. The charges against him haven't been proven in court.

Among the charges against Black was that he and several other Hollinger officials misappropriated $51.8 million (all figures U.S.) worth of so-called non-competition agreements when the company sold many of its Canadian newspapers and half the National Post to CanWest Global Communications Corp. in 2000 for $2.1 billion.

Black is also accused of using company money to pay for a lavish vacation to Bora Bora in French Polynesia. He also allegedly used Hollinger money to pay for part of a $60,000 surprise 60th birthday dinner party for his wife, Barbara Amiel.

Black's hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. today before Judge Amy St. Eve, who approved a deal between the U.S. Attorney's office and David Radler, Black's one-time chief lieutenant. Radler has agreed to co-operate with government officials investigating Black.

Black's lawyers have been worried that their high-profile client would be jailed as a flight risk following today's court hearing. Lawyers had sought an assurance from Fitzgerald that, after his initial hearing, Black would be permitted to return to Canada to await trial. Fitzgerald wasn't willing to make that promise, said a source involved.

If Black fails to appear at the hearing, the U.S. Attorney's office would likely ask a Canadian court to issue a provisional warrant that would direct police here to arrest him, said Douglas McNabb, of McNabb Associates in Houston which acted as an expert witness at an extradition hearing involving three former Enron Corp. bankers in the U.K.

This article can also be found in the Hamilton Spectator.