Disgraced media mogul Conrad Black won a request for bail on Monday as a US federal appeals court considers whether to overturn his six-and-a-half-year jail sentence for defrauding shareholders.
The Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals said the terms of Black’s release would be set by the district court in Chicago that has been hearing his case, and it was not immediately clear when Black would be freed after spending the past two years behind bars.
“I was surprised,” said Eric Sussman, the lead attorney in Black’s case, who is now in private practice. “This case never ceases to surprise me in terms of the twists and turns it takes ... I’m sure the government is disappointed.”
Bail was granted after a US Supreme Court ruling last month opened the way for Black to challenge his July 2007 conviction for a multi-million-dollar fraud.
Black, who began serving his sentence in March 2008, was charged with raiding the coffers of his once mighty newspaper empire, Hollinger, and trying to cover up his crime.
However, opening the way for the 65-year-old’s appeal and release from jail, the Supreme Court ruled that a 1998 law that allowed corporate bosses to be prosecuted for depriving shareholders of “honest services” had been too broadly interpreted. The clause was a favorite tool for white-collar crime prosecutors precisely because of its broad language, but the highest US court ruled it could only be narrowly applied to cases involving bribery or kickbacks.
“We are extremely pleased the Court of Appeals rejected the government’s argument that our unanimous Supreme Court victory meant nothing,” Black’s attorney Miguel Estrada said in a statement posted on the Toronto Star’s Web site.
“According to the Court of Appeals, the trial judge must now set the bail terms. I am trying to get on the judge’s calendar so we can finalize the details and get Lord Black out as soon as possible,” he said.
The ruthless tycoon turned his back on his native Canada to become a British peer — Lord Black of Crossharbour.
Black, who once ran the world’s third-largest media empire with such titles in his stable as Britain’s Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times, has always protested his innocence.
Flamboyant in lifestyle and brutal in business, Black once counted politicians and popstars among his entourage as he built up a towering newspaper empire.
However, he was forced to quit as Hollinger head when he was charged with siphoning millions of dollars from the firm, notably when it began divesting its Canadian and US publications in 2000.
Black and associates were convicted of stealing US$3.5 million by awarding themselves tax-free bonuses from the sell-offs of newspapers, without the approval of Hollinger’s board. They were accused of skimming off US$60 million in all between 1999 and 2001.
It was a sharp fall from grace for Black, who was 25 when he bought his first newspaper title, the Sherbrooke Record, a small, debt-ridden Canadian weekly. Two years later, he added about 20 newspapers in the Sterling company chain.
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