Black Pleads Not Guilty To New Charges In Hollinger Looting

By: Mark Fitzgerald Deposed press baron Conrad Black and other former key executives of Hollinger International pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday to additional charges of tax evasion in connection with the alleged looting of the Chicago Sun-Times parent company.

Black and former Hollinger Executive Vice President Peter Y. Atkinson also promised again to appear for their March 2007 trial, and again waived their right to contest extradition from their native Canada or Britain, where Black was bestowed the title Lord Black of Crossharbour. Both executives, plus former Hollinger CFO John "Jack" Boultbee and General Counsel Mark Kipnis, pleaded not guilty last December to racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud charges for the alleged theft of more than $80 million from Hollinger International through improper fees, contracts and payments.

The latest indictment, the third, adds charges that Black filed false income tax returns that underreported his income in 1999 and 2000 by $29 million.

Ravelston Corp. Ltd., a Toronto-based holding company now in receivership, also pleaded guilty to the additional charges Friday, and has pleaded not guilty to the original charges. Ravelston was one of the holding companies Black used to control a worldwide newspaper empire that once included the Daily Telegraph in London and the Jerusalem Post. Hollinger International recently changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group to reflect its present holding of the Chicago daily plus about 100 other Chicago-area dailies and community papers.

Black -- dressed in blue suit and tie and looking neither jovial nor distressed -- answered all the questions from U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve in a strong and calm voice.

Outside the courtroom, Black had only one comment to the scrum of photographers and reporters, most of them from Canada: "The U.S. Marines could not keep me from here." The comment was an apparent reference to his willingness to show up for trial.

During the hearing, Judge St. Eve also placed a temporary restraining order on Black, prohibiting him from selling or transferring a 26-carat diamond ring, antiques and other jewelry U.S. prosecutors allege he bought in a one-day shopping spree for his wife using ill-gotten gains from Hollinger.

Black's Chicago attorney, Edward Genson, noted to the court the assets of Black and his wife, the conservative columnist Barbara Amiel Black, have been frozen by a Canadian court, which has put the free-spending couple on a $50,000 monthly budget.

"Nobody's going to do anything with the" ring and antiques," Genson told the judge. "If you want to double it up, nothing is going to be moved wherever they are."

St. Eve scheduled an Oct. 5 hearing on the freeze on disposing of the ring and other possessions.

St. Eve also kept in place Black's bail of $21 million. On Thursday, U.S. prosecutors filed court papers alleging Black violated his bond agreement by allowing the $10 million mortgage on his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion to go into default. Black is required to keep properties and assets pledged for the bond unencumbered by liens or taxes. The court papers allege the mortgage went into default this summer after at least two extensions. With the penalty interest rates, the filing says, Black is now paying an interest rate of about 26.5%.

Black attorney Genson said the defense intends to free up assets from the Canadian order, but must wait until the end of the month for procedural reasons.