Evidentia

By the time the US Supreme Court hears Conrad Black’s appeal, towards the end of 2009, almost two years will have passed since the former press baron was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice.

Even now, I have the hardest time imagining him as inmate 18330-424. And yet, I believe his final appeal – lodged with the Supreme Court – stands little chance of succeeding. The Supreme Court has accepted to hear the appeal in order to clarify a point of law – the doctrine of “honest services” – that has little to do with Lord Black of Crossharbour himself.

The Supreme Court judges meanwhile refused him bail, recommending he apply to a lower court, which he has just done. So unless he is granted bail, it seems possible, even probable, that he will have to serve 85% of his 6 ½ year sentence, getting out of prison somewhere around September 2013.

I got to know Mr. Black well, while writing an unauthorized biography of him. I visited him in his London and Toronto mansions, saw Billionaire Row in Palm Beach, and interviewed him in corporate offices in both Toronto and New York. In 2007, I attended his criminal trial in Chicago. Up till the verdict, I was one of the few journalists explicitly upholding the principle of the presumption of his innocence.

Conrad Black & George Tombs (Toronto, 2006)

People often ask me whether I am happy or unhappy to see him behind bars. Actually, I am neither happy nor unhappy. My task in writing the book was to be as fair as possible, without getting too involved. I know enough of prison life not to wish prison on anyone. But our society is staggering under the damage wrought by economic crime. Justice must be upheld. Prison terms for some are inevitable.

Overall, there are aspects of the saga of Conrad Black that I find truly astonishing.

- Between Conrad Black and David Radler, his former right-hand man, Mr. Radler has turned out to be far more pragmatic – he cut a deal with the Justice Department, paid back $72 million, served a relatively brief sentence, and is back at work in Vancouver, running newspapers.
- The National Post has set a new low in journalistic standards by offering Mr. Black, a convicted criminal, a soapbox from behind bars, as well as an opportunity to continue justifying himself in his column before a large readership.
- I have been surprised when many readers of my book told me it was unfair Mr. Black serve time when so many other corrupt business magnates are never caught. Other readers have told me how delighted they were to see him behind bars.
- Mr. Black still refuses to accept any public responsibility for the disastrous governance of Hollinger International – the way $1.5 billion of shareholder value was raked into a huge pile, like autumn leaves, and burned. The empire has been dismantled. A few billion dollars worth of civil suits await Mr. Black and his former associates. The empire’s last remaining newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the IRS claiming over $608 million in unpaid taxes from the time when Black and Co. were at the helm. The only people who have profited from the situation seem to be lawyers.

Mr. Black must feel rage, deep-seated anxiety and bewilderment at having been locked up so long. Like 2013 other inmates at Coleman Low, he has been subject, for 15 months, to constant surveillance in a honey-combed cell with no ceiling, and rigorous discipline. He has had no personal privacy. Even though he has been allowed to teach behind bars, it has still been at a starting salary of 12c an hour. He still has to get up at 6:00, take meals in the prison mess, work from 7:30 to 3:00 pm, and take part in the inmate count seven times a day.

It is vintage Black that he is planning a new book – about his favourite topic, himself – slamming people for not upholding the presumption of his innocence during the lead-up to his guilty verdict.

What is the point of bringing out the book at all? It was Mr. Black’s acts, far more than his words, that tripped him up. Certainly the words didn’t help.

While writing my own book, I learned he was a very complex, driven man, charming, cunning, ruthless and manipulative. Since the verdict came down, however, and was upheld on appeal, I have come to see Mr. Black as a misguided, deluded man, brought down by three of the seven deadly sins – pride, greed and envy (lust for power).

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With this blog, Evidentia is introducing the Justice category. If you would like to read the first chapter of my book Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour, please go to Publications and click on the pdf file there.