Conrad Black - Criminal Fraud Conviction and Supreme Court Review

Criminal Fraud Conviction and Supreme Court Review

Black was convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago on July 13, 2007 and sentenced to serve 6.5 years in federal prison and pay Hollinger $6.1 million, in addition to a fine of $125,000.

Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due Hollinger International, and of other irregularities. The embezzlement occurred when the company sold certain publishing assets. For example, in 2000, in an arrangement that came to be known as the "Lerner Exchange," Black acquired Chicago's Lerner Newspapers and sold it to Hollinger. He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice.

The Supreme Court of the United States heard an appeal of his case on December 8, 2009 and rendered a decision in June 2010. Black's application for bail was rejected by both the Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court judge who sentenced him.

On June 24, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the definition of "honest services" fraud used in the trial judge's charge to the jury in Black's case was too broad and ordered the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to review three fraud convictions against Black in light of the Supreme Court's new definition. The appeals court was to review Black's case and determine whether his fraud convictions will stand or if there should be a new trial. The jailed former media baron's obstruction-of-justice conviction, for which he was serving a concurrent 6½-year sentence, remained in place. Black's lawyers filed an application for bail pending the appeals court's review. Prosecutors contested Black's bail request, arguing in court papers that Black's trial jury had proof that Black committed fraud. He was granted bail on July 19, 2010, by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and was released on a $2 million unsecured bond put up by conservative philanthropist Roger Hertog. Black was released from custody and ordered to remain on bail in the continental United States until at least August 16, when his bail hearing was to resume, and the date by which Black and the prosecution were ordered by the Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for that court's review of his case.

Until July 21, 2010, Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #18330-424, was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Low, Coleman, FL, a part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex. Prior to being granted bail, his scheduled release date was October 30, 2013.

Following his release, coincidentally on his 18th wedding anniversary, Black wrote a column for Canada's National Post on his time in prison. Black described America's inmates as an "ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead." Black was to appear once again in a Chicago court on August 16 to provide full and detailed financial information to the judge, who would then consider his request to be allowed to return to Canada while on bail. In spite of his professed desire to return to his former home in Canada, Black's legal representatives advised the court that they would not provide the requisite accounting and would thus not be interested in petitioning the court further on the matter. Although many have cited this refusal to disclose as more deception on the part of Black, it is possible that the voluminous amounts of information that would have been required for complete disclosure could not be compiled in time or would have been used to further incriminate Black in later proceedings, a potential violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He was, however, under no compulsion to make this disclosure, as he had initiated the appeal for a bail variation of his own volition. His next court appearance, where he might reapply for permission to return to Canada, was set for September 20, 2010.

On October 28, 2010, the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two of the three remaining mail fraud counts. It left Black convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The court also ruled that he must be resentenced. On December 17, 2010, Black lost an appeal of his remaining convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice. The three-person panel did not provide reasons. On May 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to grant Black leave to appeal his two remaining convictions without any comment.

The resentencing on the two remaining counts by the original trial judge occurred on June 24, 2011. Black's lawyers recommended that he be sentenced to the 29 months he had already served while the prosecution argued for Black to complete his original 6½ year sentence. The probation officer's report recommended a sentence of between 33 and 41 months. At the hearing, Judge St. Eve resentenced Black to a reduced term of 42 months and a fine of $125,000, returning him to prison on September 6, 2011 to serve the remaining 13 months of his sentence.

On June 30, 2011, Black published an article for the National Review Online that provided his scathing view of the legal case, detailing it as a miscarriage of justice and an "unaccountable and often lawless prosecution."

Seth Lipsky, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that ran on June 28, 2011, called the verdict against Black "head-scratching," noting that Black was found not guilty of the most serious charges brought against him. Lipsky also raised the issue of why Black was denied a retrial by jury as to whether he had committed pecuniary fraud after the Supreme Court unanimously found that Judge St. Eve's instructions to the jury were "incorrect," which led to two of the three fraud counts ultimately being vacated. In the end, the fraud conviction was allowed to stand and the count of obstruction.

Black did not return to his former location of Coleman Federal Correctional Facility because two female guards at Coleman reported they feared for their safety if Black returned. Instead, he reported on September 6, 2011, to the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami. He was released from prison on May 4, 2012. Although he has given up his Canadian citizenship in 2001 in order to receive British peerage, he has expressed desire to live in Canada after his prison term completed. He was granted a one-year temporary resident permit to live in Canada in March 2012 when he was still serving his sentence. Critics claimed that Black received special treatment from the Canadian government but Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, denied any political influence. Upon his release from the prison, Black was immediately picked up by the U.S. Immigration officials and was escorted to the Miami International Airport. He arrived at Toronto on the same afternoon and returned to his home for the first time in nearly five years. He has been barred from entering the United States for 30 years.