Convicted press lord Conrad Black to request appeal bond
Attorneys for fallen press lord Conrad Black said Wednesday they will ask a federal judge to allow him to remain free on bond pending appeal of his fraud and obstruction of justice conviction.
U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, who presided over Black's trial, told defense attorneys to have the formal request on her desk by Tuesday.
Black was convicted July 13 of illegally siphoning $6 million out of the Hollinger International newspaper empire under the pretense that they were so-called non-compete payments from buyers of the company's assets.
Black, the former chief executive officer of Hollinger International, also was convicted of spiriting boxes of documents out of his Toronto offices to keep them out of the hands of investigators.
St. Eve sentenced him to 6ˆ½ years in prison, the minimum under federal sentencing guidelines and less than prosecutors had sought. She also fined Black $125,000 and ordered him to pay part of $6.1 million in restitution.
Two other former Hollinger executives convicted with Black, Peter Y. Atkinson and Jack Boultbee, already have asked for bail pending appeal.
The 63-year-old Black has until March 3 to report to prison unless his attorneys can win him the appeal bond, which rarely is granted.
Atkinson has been sentenced to two years and fined $3,000. Boultbee has been sentenced to 27 months and ordered to pay $152,500 in restitution and fined $500. Both men are Canadians.
Chicago attorney Mark Kipnis has been placed on probation for five years with six months of house arrest and ordered to perform 275 hours of community service.
Hollinger International was once one of the world's largest newspaper holding companies. Its holdings included the Daily Telegraph of London, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post as well as hundreds of small community papers across the United States and Canada.
The big papers other than the Sun-Times since have been sold and the company has changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.
None of the defendants attended Wednesday's five-minute hearing.