Radler Sentencing Set For Dec. 10

By: E&P Staff David Radler, the former Chicago Sun-Times publisher who turned star prosecution witness against his former business partner Conrad Black, will learn on Dec. 10 how much prison time he faces for his guilty plea to a single count of mail fraud.

Radler reached a plea agreement with prosecutors at the end of 2005, and for eight days in May, he testified that Black and others schemed to loot the publishing company once known as Hollinger International through phony non-compete agreements on the sell-off of newspapers and through other means. Radler, whose testimony was by turns assured and shaky, endured withering cross-examination by lawyers for Black and three co-defendants who repeatedly called him a liar.

Black was convicted of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He was acquitted of nine other charges, including racketeering. He has vowed to appeal, and is free on $21 million bail with his travels restricted to the Chicago area and south Florida until his Nov. 30 sentencing.

Under his plea bargain, Radler faces a maximum of two years and five months in prison. He has requested to serve his sentence in his native Canada, and the U.S. government has agreed not to oppose the request. If he is imprisoned in Canada, he could be eligible for parole within six months.