Tax Man, Mr. Black: IRS Probing Conrad's Barbados Bank Account

By: E&P Staff The IRS wants banking records for a Barbados company that former newspaper mogul Conrad Black allegedly used to stash cash offshore, according to a report in The Globe and Mail Thursday.

In 2004, a report from a special directors committee of Hollinger International -- the Chicago-based publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of other Chicago-area papers -- alleged that Black used the Barbados company, Argent News Inc., to avoid taxes on some of the millions he is accused of skimming when he was the company's chairman.

Argent News is a subsidiary of the Black-controlled holding company in Toronto, Ravelston Corp. Black used Ravelston to control Hollinger Inc., which in turn holds a controlling stake in Hollinger Inc. Ravelston is in court receivership in Canada, and Black has been ousted from his positions in both International and Inc.

The Globe and Mail story by Paul Waldie reported that the IRS and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago have asked Ravelston's receiver, RSM Richter Inc. to turn over banking statements from Argent News. The story said the information was in a report filed by Richter with an Ontario court earlier this week.

Richter said it told the IRS it doesn't have the bank statements, but has other Argent documents it is prepared to turn over if a court orders it to do that. The story quoted Black's chief attorney, Toronto lawyer Edward Greenspan, as saying he needed to determine the scope of the request before deciding whether to challenge it in court.

Black has pled not guilty to federal charges that he and other executives "looted" International of some $400 million in improper payments and contracts, much of it related to the sell-off of its many community newspapers in the 1990s.

This is not Black's first tangle with the tax man: Last fall, the IRS seized about $1 million from the nearly $9 million seized by FBI agents at the sales closing of his luxury Manhattan apartment. Also last year, the Canada Revenue Agency put a lien on his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., to cover what it claims is millions in back taxes, the Globe and Mail reported.