Conrad Black heads back to jail (video)

Conrad Black was originally sentenced to six and a half years for fraud. This was reduced to 42 months following an appeal. He was granted bail on July 19, 2010.

While Black managed to have some of the charges against him overturned, he remained convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. His remaining appeals were quashed and on June 24, 2011 he was resentenced on these two remaining counts. The original trial judge reduced his term to 42 months and a fine of $125,000. Since he has already served 29 months, he must return to jail to serve out the remaining 13 months of his sentence.

According to the Toronto Sun, Black’s wife Barbara Amiel, “a fragile 70-year-old”, immediately fainted in her seat when Judge Amy St. Eve resentenced Black. The former media baron apparently showed no emotion at this set-back. The Vancouver Sun added that Judge Amy St. Eve’s sentence also included two years of supervised release. Black has six weeks before he must surrender to the prison bureau and has been given two weeks to file an appeal.

The Globe and Mail quoted the Judge Amy St. Eveas saying to Lord Black, “I still scratch my head as to why you engaged in this conduct. Good luck to you.”

The Blacks apparently left the courthouse without talking to reporters, the frail-looking Amiel Black having regained her composure.

The Globe and Mail wrote that during Friday’s court date, Black had an opportunity to speak before the court. During his speech in which he quoted Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling, he praised his supporters and attacked his critics. He especially had unkind words about Richard Breeden, a former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who investigated allegations of wrongdoing at Hollinger in 2004. Lord Black said Mr. Breeden’s report had been largely discredited and he had sued him for libel, a case close to being settled. Prosecutors had “overreached” by relying too heavily on Mr. Breeden’s work, he said.

The paper managed to contact Mr. Breeden who apparently now runs a hedge fund based in Connecticut. He had no sympathy for Lord Black. “Perhaps if Mr. Black acknowledged that the cause of his legal travails was his own disregard of the law, the District Court might not have found it necessary to incarcerate him once again. He has no one to blame but himself for his criminal behaviour.”

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Jun 24, 2011

Former media baron Conrad Black back in jail

A federal judge ordered Conrad Black, former media mongol, to return to prison to serve the rest of his 42-month sentence for defrauding investors. He will be spending the next 13 months in a Chicago prison. Black, the former chairman of media conglomerate Hollinger International Inc, had been out on bail after successfully appealing to the US Supreme Court.

References

Wikipedia: Conrad Black

Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, PC (Can.), KCSG (born August 25, 1944) is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, historian, columnist and publisher who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world.[1] Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc. Through affiliates, the company published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.

He was convicted of fraud in a US court in 2007 and sentenced to six and a half years’ imprisonment. On July 19, 2010 Black was granted bail. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two of the three remaining mail fraud counts in October of that year. On June 24, 2011 he was resentenced on one remaining count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice to a 42 months and a fine of $125,000 (USD). As the 29 months Black has served is included in this sentence, he is required to return to prison for a remaining thirteen months.

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