Baron Black of Crossharbour, the fallen Media Mogul, finally has his day in court.The Long awaited Trial of Media Baron Lord Conrad Black of Crossharbour for what the layman’s term as the Crime of Milking his own Business for personal wealth along with other three officers of the Company will start today with Jury Selection at Chicago Criminal Court.
A little back ground about Lord Black. He was a very successful businessman, and also an accomplished writer of Novels and Biographer of famous personalities including Napoleon and FDR. He is also known for his pompous attitudes and for so many his superlative arrogance. He once sue Prime Minister Jean Chretien for thwarting his acceptance of British peerage offered by the Queen at the advice of PM Tony Blair, by citing the Nickel Resolution of 1919, by which the House of Commons resolve that the Monarch should not confide Titular Honours to Canadians as it is not compatible in a democratic society.
But Black being Black and vain as he is, renounced his citizenship when the court ruled against his lawsuit. Now, he wants his citizenship back, just in case, to avail the exchange prisoner program, where Canadians may serve their sentences in Canadian penitentiary if they chooses to. I doubt if he will be ever granted his citizenship back, but nobody underestimate Lord Black, he is a fighter and he is even confident that the U.S. has no case against him.
He is defended by one of Canada’s top defense lawyers, Eddie Greenspan and in the U.S. side by Eddie Grenson, also the top gun defense lawyer from Chicago land.
On the prosecution side, a team of four Asst. U.S. attorneys headed by Lead Prosecutor Eric Sussman, and under the direction of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the same Prosecutor who directed the case against Martha Stewart and most other high profile business crime cases.
Excerpt from the Toronto Star Article:
The case against Conrad Black, which is factually a case against four defendants, three of whom are oft forgotten, can be told simply in three parts. Like a play.
Act I was the rising up of shareholder activists resulting in the raining down of a report by the so-called "special committee," which documented the alleged looting of the corporate treasury by Black and others. The "kleptocracy," as the report's authors famously said, was driven by insiders as they "ravenously" siphoned cash from the corporation and into their own pockets.
Act II was the indictment – or rather indictments – brought by United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who alleged that payments "disguised as non-competition fees" enriched insiders who "made it their job to steal and conceal."
Act III will be the trial itself, pitting the U.S. Department of Justice against Black, Jack Boultbee, Mark Kipnis and Peter Atkinson.
Propelling the action between the acts has been Conrad Black's long-time partner, David Radler, who, in September 2005, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud, thus ensuring for himself a prison sentence and, via his co-operation with prosecutors, enabling the scriptwriting of Acts II and III.
Black himself is predicting a Shakespearean extension to the drama, in which there will be an Act IV: redemption. In recent weeks he has availed himself of unobstructed air time as he set about his campaign of self-exoneration, most of which coverage.
Details and more articles on Lord Black visit the link:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/190540
