New Charges Against Conrad Black

By: E&P Staff A federal grand jury in Chicago has issued a third superceding indictment against former newspaper mogul Conrad Black, adding two new charges of tax evasion, and demanding the return of a 26-carat diamond ring valued at $2.6 million.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, in a statement, said the new charges related to allegedly intentional underreporting of Hollinger International income in 1999 of about $13 million and in 2000 of about $16 million. Black was once the chairman of Hollinger International, the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, which recently changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.

Black's Canadian lawyer, Edward Greenspan, told The Canadian Press that the new indictment does not change his position that the "prosecutor has a weak case, and that we will be vindicated" at trial.

"Adding even more unfounded charges doesn't make the prosecutor's case any better," Greenspan told CP.

Black was already facing criminal charges that he looted millions from Hollinger in the form of improper fees, insider contracts and other payments. Also indicted on criminal charges are former Hollinger executives John "Jack" Boultbee; Peter Atkinson; and Mark Kipnis. Also indicted on criminal charges is Ravelston Corp., the Canadian holding company that Black used to control another holding company that in turn was the controlling shareholder in Hollinger.

All the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Trial is scheduled to begin in federal court in Chicago next March.

David Radler, the former Sun-Times publisher who was Black's lieutenant as he amassed a global newspaper empire, has pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud in the case. In a plea bargain he agreed to cooperate in the investigation of Black and others, and to testify against them in court. He has been sentenced to a 29-month prison term and will be fined $250,000.

Black is free on bail, which earlier this month was bumped up another $1 million to $21 million by a U.S. judge who said Black's earlier financial statements had underestimated his finances.