Free Republic

Excerpt - In late November 2003, Conrad Black was under siege by Richard Breeden, a former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who had been conducting an independent inquiry into Hollinger International, his company. On Saturday, November 23, Hollinger?s new board was united in a telephone conference to discuss Black?s offer to repay $7.2m (?3.8m) to the company and resign as chairman. Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel, were in his Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan. Some words of regret about the circumstances were being uttered when Amiel interrupted. ?Conrad won?t be bound by a kangaroo court,?...

Through schemes large and small, top executives fleeced the company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times, pocketing more than $400 million, or 95 percent of the profits over seven years, according to a report made public Tuesday. The company, Hollinger International, sits at the center of a heated battle between controlling shareholder Conrad Black and the board of directors -- in particular, a "special committee" of directors investigating Black. The 513-page report, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Monday, represents the findings of an adviser hired by the committee to probe Black's dealings. The adviser, former U.S. Securities and...

Canada will vote tomorrow, and for the first time since the Free Trade election of 1988 there is a possibility of a party other than the Liberals winning the election. Polls indicate Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals and his Conservative opponents running closely, with neither likely to have a majority in Parliament. In the 20th century, the Canadian Liberal Party was the most successful of any party in any important democratic country with continuous parties. It governed for 70 years in that century (against 57 years for the British Conservatives and 53 for the U.S. Republicans). Ever since the Conservatives...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newspaper publisher Hollinger International Inc. said late on Saturday it was ousting media tycoon Conrad Black as its chairman and suing him and one of his top deputies for more than $200 million. The lawsuit filed by a special committee of the company's independent board members charged that Black and Hollinger Inc. -- a Toronto-based holding company through which he controls Hollinger International -- together with former president and chief operating officer David Radler, collected unjustified and excessive management fees and altered company books and records to conceal their actions. Hollinger International, which owns the...

Conrad M. Black, the embattled media baron, has one more overdue bill: he has not made good on a $100,000 pledge to the New York Public Library. Lord Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, were co-chairmen of the Literary Lions benefit dinner on Nov. 3. At that time, he agreed to give the library $100,000, but he has not made the contribution. Instead, Lord Black asked his company, Hollinger International, to make the payment for him. The company refused, according to a person briefed on the situation. Nor did Hollinger take a table at the elegant New York dinner,...

<p>Conrad Black has no intention of making good on his pledge to begin paying back millions in fees to Hollinger International, The Post has learned.</p> <p>Black, the ousted head of newspaper giant Hollinger, has indicated to the company that he will not make a payment of $850,000 that is due Jan. 19, according to sources familiar with the matter.</p>

A unit of Hollinger International made bonus payments totalling $3 million (U.S.) in December, 2000, to Conrad M. Black, Hollinger's chairman and now former chief executive officer, and two of its other top executives, wiring the money to the Caribbean unit of a Canadian bank. The complex transaction, recorded in documents described by people close to the company, sheds light on at least one way Hollinger paid Black, through a transfer that also could have reduced taxes on his compensation. Other recent payments by the company to Black and other top executives were also made through wire transfers to the...

Dark times surround Conrad Black, business newsmaker of the year TORONTO (CP) - His biggest news may still lie ahead of him, but Conrad Black has been anointed by newspaper and broadcast editors as the first notable to be named The Canadian Press business newsmaker of the year. Unfortunately for the hard-pressed media magnate who for a time dealt with Canadian newspapers like Monopoly-game properties, the honour carries no cash - and no "get out of jail free" card. Black, 59, dominated voting for business newsmaker of 2003 in a survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters by CP and Broadcast...

Lord Black, the chairman of Hollinger International, is expected to decline to testify in front of the Securities & Exchange Commission today. The hearing into the corporate governance of the New York-listed company is held in camera and was Lord Black's first opportunity to explain the "non-compete" payments and other matters relating to the company, which owns The Telegraph. However, according to sources familiar with the situation, it has simply not been possible to assemble all the information that the SEC might need. Lord Black's advisers asked the SEC if the hearing could be postponed for a few weeks, and...

<p>The FBI and U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago have launched an investigation into alleged financial shenanigans at ousted newspaper baron Conrad Black's Hollinger International, sources told The Post.</p> <p>The criminal probe takes the scandal in a new direction and raises the possibility that Black and his cohorts could eventually face criminal charges for their role in Hollinger's ongoing financial scandal.</p>

NEW YORK - Hollinger International Inc., a newspaper publisher caught up in a widening financial scandal, is looking into an investment the company made to a venture capital fund with links to defense adviser Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger, both directors of the company. The investigation is part of a wider probe at the company which has already resulted in the resignation of several senior executives, including Canadian-born press baron Conrad Black as Hollinger International's CEO. However, Black remains chairman and controlling shareholder of the Chicago-based company, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph in London and The Jerusalem...

<p>By R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.</p> <p>"Hit 'em when they're down," is our motto. "Pile on," is our hearty exhortation. Who are we? We are the noble souls of the press. We are the self-described heroes, who write "history's first draft" as daily journalism is called. Yes, perhaps old Henry Ford had something when he described history as "bunk."</p>

Harrods owner Mohammed Fayed is preparing a bid for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers. He is assembling a team of senior newspaper executives to work on an offer. Fayed is believed to have contacted Lazards, the investment bank hired by Hollinger International - the Telegraphs' parent company - which is carrying out a strategic review that is likely to lead to a sale. Fayed has also met Richard Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers and one of the favourites to buy the Telegraphs should they be put up for sale. Desmond and Hollinger each own half of the West Ferry...

MICHAEL HOWARD attended a secret lunch with Richard Desmond, owner of the Express group and favourite to buy the troubled Daily Telegraph, to try to secure a promise that the newspaper will continue to support the Tories. The meeting took place only hours after it was announced that Lord Black of Crossharbour was stepping down as chief executive of Hollinger International, the Telegraph’s parent group, over allegations of millions of pounds of unauthorised payments. Monday’s lunch took place at the Westminster home of Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory treasurer, and the party’s wealthiest supporter, who is a long-standing friend of...

JERUSALEM POST OWNERS RESIGN; FACE CORRUPTION CHARGES Post To Be Sold, Management Reshuffled Jerusalem Post Publisher Tom Rose, Editor Bret Stephens To Be Replaced By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer New York-----November 17........ Under heavy pressure from investors, Conrad Black will step down as chief executive of Hollinger International Inc., publisher of the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times, and the company may be sold after an internal investigation found that fees had been improperly paid to Black and other senior executives. Several other executives are also leaving Hollinger as part of a management shakeup the company announced early Monday. David...