Black's lawyers ask for information to be withheld
Former newspaper tycoon Conrad Black’s lawyers are asking a judge to bar from his trial testimony that he used money belonging to the Hollinger International media empire to buy dinner for former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, refurbish a Rolls Royce and pay for his wife’s jogging suit.
A Black effort to scuttle a Hollinger International investigation of his financial dealings is also among the allegations his attorneys asked US District Judge Amy St. Eve to rule out in court papers filed in Chicago on Tuesday.
Prosecutors want to present a number of such items to the jury at the trial scheduled for May of Black and three other former executives charged with plundering millions of dollars from the Hollinger International empire that Black once ran.
Black’s lawyers said the acts in question have nothing to do with the charges against him and it would be unfair to present them at trial.
“The government’s case should rise or fall on the basis of the charged offences as opposed to prejudicial collateral matters, some of which are 25 years old,” they said.
Black’s attorneys began their filing with the boldface capitalised Italian word “BASTA!” – meaning “enough”.
Black is accused of engineering a scheme under which hundreds of small US and Canadian newspapers belonging to Hollinger International were sold and Black pocketed sizable payments from the buyers.
The payments were made in return for promises from Black not to compete with the new owners. But federal prosecutors say the arrangement merely was a way for Black and his co-defendants to rip off the company.
The government filed court papers on January 8 saying it wanted to tell jurors how Black dipped into company funds to pay for dinners at New York’s fashionable Le Cirque restaurant for Kissinger and his wife.
The government’s papers also alleged Black has blocked the government from getting 13 boxes of documents and detailed how Black threatened to fire Hollinger International’s board of directors in 2003 when they formed a committee to investigate the non-compete payments.
The government’s filing also pointed to a $50,000 (€38,000) payment it said was intended to keep a co-conspirator loyal and an anonymous internet message allegedly posted by Black predicting a rise in Hollinger International shares.
Prosecutors asked St. Eve for permission to tell jurors about a 1982 Ohio case in which a judge found Black in violation of securities law.
They also want to tell how Black used $9.6m (€7.4m) in Hollinger International funds to buy Franklin D. Roosevelt memorabilia at a time when he was writing a Roosevelt biography. In addition, they are asking the court to let them tell jurors about an insider trading case, Black’s use of company funds for his charitable contributions and other matters.
Black also used company money to pay for his wife’s handbags, jogging attire, exercise equipment, stereo, silverware and opera tickets, prosecutors say.
They say the bill included $24,950 (€19,153) in company funds for “summer drinks” and money to refurbish a Rolls Royce car owned by a Black holding company.
