Free Republic

The US Supreme Court agreed yesterday to consider overturning the fraud conviction Conrad Black, the former owner of The Daily Telegraph, who is serving a 6 1/2 year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice. The court's justices will hear arguments later this year over the convictions of Black, the former chairman and chief executive of Hollinger International, and two other former executives in connection with payments of $5.5 million (£3.6m) they received from a Hollinger subsidiary. The men argued that they did not commit fraud because they did no harm to the company. They turned to the highest US...

Two former executives and a holding company in the toppled media empire of Conrad Black were charged with fraud for diverting $32 million in fees generated by newspaper sales, prosecutors said on Thursday. David Radler, who was president and chief operating officer of Hollinger International Inc., Hollinger's in-house lawyer Mark Kipnis, and Ravelston Corp. Ltd., Black's insolvent Toronto-based holding company, were charged in a seven-count indictment alleging fraud. In the latest blow to Black's unraveling empire, prosecutors alleged that when newspapers were sold the defendants pocketed payments disguised as non-compete fees. Such agreements prohibit the seller from opening a rival...