Conrad Black seeks fresh appeal of his fraud case

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A Dec. 10, 2007 file photo shows convicted newspaper mogul ConradBlack arriving at the federal building in Chicago for sentencing inhis racketeering and fraud trial. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/M. SpencerGreen
Former press lord Conrad Black is asking a federalappeals court to take another look at the fraud and obstruction ofjustice convictions that landed the Canadian-born businessman in aFlorida prison.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lastmonth upheld the convictions of Black and three others. But thedefendants asked Wednesday for a so-called en banc hearing in whichall the actively sitting judges on the court would consider thecase.
The 62-year-old Black, who gave up his Canadian citizenship inorder to receive the British title Lord Black of Crossharbour, andhis three co-defendants were convicted in July 2007 of defraudingthe Hollinger International media empire he once ran.
Black also was convicted of obstruction of justice for removingboxes of documents from his office in Toronto in violation of anOntario court prohibition.
Hollinger International once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the DailyTelegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds of communitynewspapers across this country and Canada. The only large paperremaining is the Sun-Times, which changed the company name toSun-Times Media Group.
So-called en banc hearings are frequently requested in big casesbut rarely granted. A sharply divided appeals court refused togrant such a hearing to former Illinois governor George Ryan,convicted of racketeering and fraud.
If the appeals court refuses Black as well, the next step for himmost likely will be the U.S. Supreme Court.
The opinion denying Black's appeal focused on a deal involving aHollinger subsidiary, APC, which sold most of its newspapers andended up owning just one weekly, in Mammoth Lake, Calif. Black andseveral other executives got $5.5 million for agreeing not tocompete with APC for three years after leaving Hollinger.
The opinion written by Judge Richard A. Posner said it was"ridiculous" to think that the executives might set up a businessin Mammoth Lake.
Black and his co-defendants always have contended the money was notreally non-compete payments but were merely characterized that wayto get a Canadian tax break. Black says the payments weremanagement fees.
In their request for an en banc hearing, lawyers for Black and hisco-defendants said the three-judge appeals panel had wronglyequated the Canadian tax benefit with a bribe or kickback.
"Unlike the payer of a bribe or kickback, however, Canada was notconferring a benefit for the purpose of subverting defendants'performance of their official duties - or their honest services asexecutives of International," the lawyers wrote.
Black was born in Montreal and grew up in Toronto, where he longhad his offices and still owns a house.
Co-defendants Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee, both Canadianexecutives of Hollinger, received two years and 27 monthsrespectively. Chicago attorney Mark Kipnis, a former Hollingeremployee, was placed on probation with six months of house arrest.