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CHICAGO - The jury weighing fraud charges against former Hollinger International chairman Conrad Black and three co-defendants resumed deliberations yesterday under orders from the trial judge after they failed to reach a verdict on some charges.
"We have discussed and deliberated on all the evidence and are still unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one or more counts," the jury said.
US District Court judge Amy St Eve told the nine-woman, three-man jury, which has deliberated nine days, to resume work.
She said she would not accept a partial verdict "at this time", adding that she would accept one if the jury remained hung.
"You should make every reasonable effort to reach a verdict," the judge said.
Black, 62, is charged with fraud and racketeering and faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious counts of the 16 charges he and his co-defendants face. If St Eve subsequently declares a mistrial on any of the deadlocked counts, prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry Black and the other defendants on those charges.
The US Government accuses him, former Hollinger vice-president Peter Atkinson, 60, and ex-chief financial officer John Boultbee, 64, of stealing more than US$60 million ($77 million) from the company.
The money was disguised as payments made in exchange for the executives' agreeing not to compete with newspapers Hollinger sold between 1998 and 2001 for about US$3 billion, prosecutors claimed. Fourth defendant, Mark Kipnis, 59, is accused of helping the others steal the money.
- BLOOMBERG
