Brian's (swan) song?

By: Joe Nicholson ex-upi chairman loses on appeal;
now faces jail time

The U.S. Supreme Court last week let stand the fraud convictions of Earl Brian, 57, the former chairman of United Press International and Financial News Network.
The action freed federal prosecutors to seek to imprison Brian, according to The Associated Press.
Brian, who has an unlisted number at his home in Easton, Md., could not be reached for comment. upi staffers said they did not know how to reach their former boss.
upi did not immediately respond to a request for comment; fnn's core media operations were sold after it went bankrupt.
Brian was sentenced two years ago to 57 months in federal prison, a number equal to his current age in years, and was fined $25,000.
Without comment, the court rejected Brian's claim in his appeal that he was denied a fair trial and denied a fair hearing before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brian was convicted in 1996 of bank fraud, lying to auditors and conspiring to cover up financial problems at upi and fnn in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Prosecutors said Brian and one of his aides drafted hundreds of false invoices and other documents to cover up fnn's losses and help the financially unstable cable tv network and its parent, New York-based Infotechnology Inc., obtain $70 million in bank loans.
The scheme allegedly inflated fnn's profits by almost $50 million between 1988 and 1991, when the company went bankrupt. upi also declared bankruptcy that year.
fnn billed upi for services it never performed, and borrowed money from Security Pacific Bank based on fabricated financial statement and false leases to fictional equipment, according to prosecutors.
Brian served as California's health and welfare secretary under Gov. Ronald Reagan. He failed in an attempt to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 1984.
fnn later sold its core media operations to cnbc. upi has gone through two bankruptcy reorganizations and four owners since its sale by the Scripps family in 1982.
In 1992, upi was bought by Middle East Broadcasting Centre, a Saudi firm.

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