Black Gets 6 1/2 Years in Prison

Former Press mogul, Conrad M. Black, who once presided over the world’s third-largest newspaper empire, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison after being convicted of mail fraud and obstructing justice. He was also ordered to return $6.1 million and pay a $125,000 fine.

Black and three former subordinates were charged in November 2005. They were found guilty of swindling $6.1 million in checks paid to three defendants in exchange for sham non-competition agreements involving Hollinger. Black was found culpable of removing 13 boxes of documents sought after by regulators from his Toronto office in 2005.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who presided at the trial, told Black today in Chicago federal court. "You violated your duty to Hollinger International shareholders. I frankly cannot understand how someone of your stature, at the top of the media empire, could engage in the conduct you engaged in."

Also convicted with Black were former Hollinger Vice President Peter Atkinson, ex-Chief Financial Officer John Boultbee, and former General Counsel Mark Kipnis.

After being the sentenced the minimum time recommended under federal sentencing guidelines, Black said, "I do wish to express very profound regret and sadness." He was however more concerned about "the evaporation of $1.5 billion of shareholder value under my successors."

Referring to the fact that the prosecutors had sought a much more stringent penalty, Black's lawyer Edward Greenspan said after the hearing, "To end up where we ended up is a lot better than where we started. What is left is going to be appealed."

According to Andrew Frey, Black’s appellate attorney, he has 10 days to file a notice of intent to appeal. He said, "The evidence does not establish that Conrad committed any of the crimes for which he was convicted. They've forgotten that there's a mental element to all of these crimes-- there has to be intent."

Black was the largest shareholder in Hollinger. What brought him here today is his own greed.