It's looking more & more like this expanding fiasco is going to be the proverbial "bridge too far" for 'Scooter' Libby's persecutor:
the slimy & overly ambitious Patrick Fitzgerald ... snicker.
Posted on 05/10/2007 11:16:43 AM PDT by GMMAC
History of untruths
By Peter Worthington
Toronto Sun
May 10, 2007
CHICAGO -- It was a packed and hushed courtroom at the Conrad Black trial when lawyer Eddie Greenspan started cross-examining David Radler yesterday afternoon, launching a savage attack on his truthfulness.
Radler, Black's ex-friend and partner in the Hollinger empire for some 35 years, was obviously warned of Greenspan's legendary courtroom skills of taking no prisoners, and at first was chippy, argumentative, defiant and claiming he didn't understand what Greenspan was asking.
Greenspan reminded him of his testimony under oath at a trial in B.C. where he swore he and Conrad owned equal shares in the Horizon company (24% each). In sworn testimony in Chicago he gave different figures.
Greenspan aggressively asked if Radler had sworn on the Bible in the B.C. court to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God."
Radler didn't remember the "God" bit, and was unsure about the Bible. At one point Judge Amy St. Eve told Radler not to be argumentative and just answer questions.
By the afternoon's end, Radler was flushed, giving monosyllable answers and was considerably subdued.
Although he insisted his only interest was to "tell the truth," he admitted that prior to agreeing to plead guilty on one charge of fraud and testifying against Black in return for a soft 29-month sentence to be served in Canada, he'd lied consistently.
Prior to his grand jury testimony, Radler admitted under Greenspan's relentless probing that he'd not told his own lawyers that he intended to lie.
In fact, he admitted lying in 10 separate meetings to some 24 FBI agents, the Internal Revenue Service, postal inspectors, the very prosecutors now using him as the main witness against Black.
He'd even lied at three meetings of the Hollinger "special committee," set up to investigate shareholder complaints about non-compete fees to Black, Radler and former Hollinger executives Peter Atkinson, Jack Boultbee and Mark Kipnis.
Radler's personal lawyers, clearly embarrassed that they'd been misled by him (client confidentiality was respected), complained to the judge that Greenspan's probing crossed the line.
An unrepentant Greenspan probably noted that the jury seemed suitably shocked that the prosecution's star witness had so little regard in the past for the truth.
Rather than call them "lies" Radler preferred the euphemism: "I was not entirely truthful."
Greenspan noted that the Hollinger special committee believed Radler implicitly and on every occasion thanked him for taking the time and effort to talk to them, not realizing that it was all lies.
Radler said it was to protect himself and colleagues.
Still, the most damning admission winkled out by Greenspan referred to Radler's testimony to prosecutor Eric Sussman on Tuesday that he only learned about non-compete payments from Atkinson in the $3.5-billion sale to CanWest of the National Post and other papers, and decided to use them in sales of American papers he negotiated.
Greenspan got Radler to admit that more than 20 years ago when he had the reputation of being America's "most formidable newspaper negotiator," buying papers at a rate of one per week, that he insisted on non-compete agreements with those selling to Hollinger.
Some 133 newspapers were purchased by Radler, who insisted on non-compete agreements to prevent the sellers from starting new papers in the same area.
For example, the Hollinger purchase of a newspaper in Macon, Mo. (negotiated by Radler), cost $2.9 million, of which $1.7 million went in non-compete fees.
Yet Radler is on record saying he'd never thought of that gimmick until the CanWest sale. Hmm.
Considering that non-competes are a key factor in the case against Black, this admission may be critical. Radler implied he never purchased a newspaper without a non-compete clause.
Radler agreed with Greenspan that after Black negotiated the purchase of Britain's Daily Telegraph and Radler negotiated the purchase of the Jerusalem Post, the pair tended to operate in different zones.
Radler had offices in Chicago and Jerusalem, Black in London and New York, and neither had access to the other's offices.
Radler agreed that their purchase of the Sherbrooke Record for $18,000 in 1969 (and sold a few years later "for 40 times what they paid for it") and later acquisitions and sales that ran into the billions made heaps of money for shareholders and managers.
It was a rough afternoon for Radler, who did his best to neutralize Greenspan, but the agony has only just started for Radler and Greenspan has hardly begun his dissection.
One almost feels sorry for Radler.
It's looking more & more like this expanding fiasco is going to be the proverbial "bridge too far" for 'Scooter' Libby's persecutor:
the slimy & overly ambitious Patrick Fitzgerald ... snicker.
Another Patrick Fitzgerald/corrupt prosecutor show trial.
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