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CHICAGO - Lawyers defending Conrad Black and three former associates against criminal fraud charges wrapped up their case yesterday after the one-time media baron and three co-defendants turned down a last chance to take the stand in their own defence.
The two-week defence presentation was quick compared with the 11 weeks prosecutors took to try to prove that the four men stole US$60 million ($80 million) from Hollinger International, the company that ran Black's media empire.
In resting its case, the defence team cleared the way for final arguments in the trial, now in its 13th week. The jury was dismissed until Monday when closing arguments begin. They could last all of next week or beyond before the jury retires to reach its verdict.
Black is charged with mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and filing false tax returns.
The Canadian-born Black, now a British citizen and a member of the House of Lords, could face years in jail and heavy fines if convicted on all counts.
The other defendants, Jack Boultbee, former chief financial officer at Hollinger Peter Atkinson, the firm's former general counsel, and Mark Kipnis, a lawyer for the company, face lesser charges.
Prosecutors have accused the four men of engaging in a scheme in which they kept for themselves some non-competition payments from the sale of properties as they dismantled what had been one of the world's biggest media empires.
Such payments are set aside from the proceeds of sales of businesses to keep sellers from re-entering a market they have exited. But prosecutors contend the money that went to Black and the others should have gone to Hollinger International for the benefit of shareholders, who instead were kept in the dark.
- REUTERS
