Former Newspaper Executive Wants to Skip Court to Attend Party

By: Federal prosecutors accused a former executive of the Hollinger newspaper empire of failing to grasp the seriousness of fraud charges against him after he requested court permission to skip a court hearing to attend a holiday party at his country club.

?Defendant?s desire to attend a party at his country club and ?enjoy the camaraderie of his friends and family? rather than to attend a hearing set to address several of the motions filed by himself and his co-defendants demonstrates a gross lack of appreciation by this defendant of the gravity of these proceedings,? prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday.

Former Hollinger executive John Boultbee had requested court permission to remain at his home in Victoria, British Columbia, on June 30 to attend a Canada Day celebration at his country club rather than attend a hearing on charges against ousted newspaper magnate Conrad Black, Boultbee and others. Canada Day is July 1.

Black, Boultbee and two other former executives are charged with using their positions to plunder millions of dollars from Chicago-based newspaper holding company Hollinger International. They have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday that Boultbee?s claim that making the trip to Chicago would be costly and inconvenient was frivolous. They said his estimate that a trip to Chicago and a stay at ?a moderately priced hotel? would cost $3,000 was far fetched.

They said a check of Orbitz.com showed that airfare and a hotel were available for $1,202.

"They have nothing better to do than looking up airfares,? Boultbee defense attorney Patrick A. Tuite said. He said that for Boultbee attending the status hearing scheduled for June 30 would mean ?10 hours of traveling for 15 minutes in court.?

Tuite also said that Canada Day was a special holiday, similar to the Fourth of July in this country, and was therefore very important to Boultbee and other Canadians.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve will decide the issue later.