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Goodbye Black, Hello Spectator

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Douglas Bell

As The Trial of Conrad Black morphs into a blog that might better be titled The Incarceration of Conrad Black (sources for which, let’s face it, could get a little thin on the ground), I’ll be shifting my efforts to a more general blog examining media, business and the business of media. The new blog—titled Spectator and launching today—will have a regular feature called Black Watch, through which will continue this blog’s purview with the promise of a richer offer besides. In reflecting on the course of this blog’s life to date, I have only this to say: keep it coming. Rollicking, raunchy, incisive, intelligent, funny, bad tempered, mean spirited, galling and appalling—just keep it coming. Speech, free and even otherwise, is what separates us from the beasts—and Conrad Black, love him or hate him, is an avatar of same. He gets me up in the morning and incites me (and from the looks of this crowd, every other dog and his dog) to speak. So Keep. It. Coming.

Go to Douglas Bell’s new blog, Spectator.

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Radler’s prison bound

Posted on February 25, 2008 by Douglas Bell

A Canadian Press story reminds us that today is the day David Radler reports to prison at the Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania. Oddly, his inmate number hasn’t turned up on the Bureau of Prisons’ Web site (whereas Black, Boultbee and Atkinson’s all have); an indication, perhaps, that he’ll soon be heading back to B.C. to finish his sentence as a guest of the Crown. Beyond that, the article afforded somebody named James Morton, president of the Ontario Bar Association, the opportunity to spout off as follows: “This is really a tragic saga and we’re seeing the final chapter; it’s sort of the march to the Tower of London.” This, in turn, affords me the opportunity to point out that,

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Hollinger three: Circling the drain

Posted on February 22, 2008 by Douglas Bell

With Conrad Black et al. jointly asking for an “emergency” stay to keep them out of prison—at least until the appellate court in the 7th circuit decides the matter of their application to remain free on bail—I am struck by the supreme irony of the Hollinger three tying their fate to common application in this matter. I’m making my way through Steve Skurka’s new book on the trial titled Tilted and came across the following passage, and believe me there’s plenty more like it:

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Perhaps Conrad Black was just not loved enough

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Douglas Bell

With a mere two weeks to go before his scheduled self-surrender, Conrad Black could take solace of a sort in the words of three relatively well meaning chroniclers over the weekend. The Irish columnist Ruth Dudley Edwards—long a bona fide FOB—elicited the following stiff-upper-lip missive:

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Convict him of arrogance, pomposity and verbosity!

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Douglas Bell

At various stages throughout Conrad Black’s trial I was fortunate to correspond with an august British author and pillar of The City whose views I counted on for their insight, wit and wisdom. With the trial a long way behind us, he agreed—“strictly not for attribution”—to comment broadly for publication on the case and its ramifications. Here are the choicest remarks:

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Ken Whyte, Conrad Black and a conflict of interest

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Douglas Bell

On a day when the Hollinger three filed joint papers with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a final effort to delay their imprisonment, I am going to rewind the tape to reprise a peripheral issue in the trial of Conrad Black—one that may, in the long run, have even more profound consequences than the demise of the great man himself.

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Babs goes batty

Posted on February 11, 2008 by Douglas Bell

The opening sentence of Barbara Amiel’s latest offering in Maclean’s proves beyond a shadow of a shadow of a doubt that, whatever else you might say about her, the lady is as good as her word: “As we face the next round of tribulations, there are distinct signs that I am turning slightly batty.”

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The fag-end days for Black et al.

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Now are frayed fag-end days for Conrad Black et al. Having decided to roll together their appellate court applications for bail, the Hollinger three are damned with faint praise. The Canadian Press reports:

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Irony’s alive and well at the Sun-Times

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Douglas Bell

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Marx said it. Now it’s safe to say Conrad Black et al. are living it.

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A Bone to chew on

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Douglas Bell

After his Lordship’s repudiation last Thursday, the weekend’s coverage dwindled away to almost nothing. One happy exception was James Bone in The Times (of London). Among Crossharbour’s antagonists, Bone is the most erudite and mischievous. Earlier in the proceedings, he reported on Black’s likely schedule on a typical day in the slammer. Saturday he reported on Black’s recreational options should he end up at FCI Coleman, which, along with a federal work camp in Miami (Black’s first choice), is his probable destination. “Coleman, with a population of 5,000 in low-, medium- and high-security facilities, is the largest prison in the United States. It offers inmates activities such as shuffleboard, exercise bicycles and bocce ball, the Italian version of bowls.”

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Denied!

Posted on February 1, 2008 by Douglas Bell

As I suspected, and suggested as a possibility yesterday, given his sudden appearance on the Bureau of Prisons Web site, Lord Black’s plea to remain free pending appeal has, as of 6 p.m. last evening, fallen on decidedly deaf ears. Of course, Black still has the right to appeal even this decision. In an e-mail to the Globe’s Paul Waldie, Crossharbour reiterated his long held position that “we always assumed we had a better chance with the Court of Appeal and will be going there next.”

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Prisoner #18330-424

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Douglas Bell

As of 9:16 p.m. on January 30, 2008, Conrad M. Black’s name and prison number were available for public scrutiny on the Federal Bureau of Prisons Web site. Oddly, none of Peter Atkinson, Jack Boultbee and David Radler joined him in this regard. It may mean nothing, or it may mean Crossharbour ought to think about packing a toothbrush come March 3.

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David Frum’s laughable defence

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Predictably, the U.S. government renounced Conrad Black’s arguments in favour of his remaining free on bail pending appeal. As reported in a CP wire story, prosecutor Edward Siskel was particularly contemptuous of Black’s contention that evidence presented at trial “was insufficient to support his corrupt intent for the obstruction of justice conviction.” Retorted Siskel:

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Lines Written on the Imprisonment of Lord Black

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Douglas Bell

In the interregnum between Lord Black’s plea to remain free on bail and the government’s response, I thought I might share the following. Last month the British magazine Private Eye published a truly egregious piece of poetry titled “Lines Written on the Imprisonment of Lord Black of Crossharbour.” The poem is attributed to one William Rees-McGonagall—a fake moniker that humorously combines the names of one of Black’s more supportive interlocutors, Baron Rees-Mogg of Hinton Blewitt, and William McGonagall, whose tortured verses caused him to be considered among the worst poets in the English language. The poem is very much offered in that spirit:

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Fewer and farther between

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Douglas Bell

A selection of random trailings from late last week. A Bloomberg wire service story reported that:

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More’s the Pity

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Several stories appeared yesterday recording Black’s submission to St. Eve to continue his bail pending appeal. Failing that, they’ve asked that his bail be extended through to June 15th, by which time oral arguments will have been heard before the appellate court.

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A new bio for Black

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Not that it matters one iota, but at least one of Black’s allies in this great enterprise has soured on his continuing protestations of innocence and his ongoing predictions of forthcoming vindication. For the longest time, the National Post (which continues to retain Black as a columnist) ran as part of Black’s bio something indicating that once he’d put paid to these scurrilous charges, Lord Black would resume his financial career. Lately, that promise has vanished. Here, then, for the record, is his latest CV as published on the National Post Web site:

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Let the appeal shenanigans begin

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Let me see if I’ve got this straight: Black’s appeals lawyer, Andrew Frey, is quoted in the Post this morning suggesting that the strongest element of his client’s appeal (and hence the strongest reason for Amy St. Eve to grant him bail pending that appeal) is the vulnerability of the obstruction charge:

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“Most over-lawyered proceedings in recent history”

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Douglas Bell

News from Chicago this morning: the prosecution’s lead attorney, Eric Sussman, is seeking greener pastures in the private sector. The same Trib article also mentions Hugh Totten, who commented wittily and non-stop in the press throughout the Black trial from his post as a commercial litigator at the Chicago firm Perkins Coie. He is now starting, along with a couple of other partners from big league firms, the Valorem Law Group. They aim to compete with the majors primarily on price. I asked Totten whether his experience following the Black trial influenced his decision. Continue...


Black’s goal (or last hope): A presidential pardon

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Douglas Bell

In a screed orotund even by his standards, Conrad Black ripped the American punditocracy a new one for its failing to make sense of the recent primary doings out New England way:

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Culling the herd at the Chicago Sun-Times

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Two stories hit the papers today that reflect the wide-ranging, ongoing fallout from the Hollinger mess. Peter Atkinson’s plea to remain free on bail during the course of his appeal turns in part on St. Eve’s infamous “ostrich” instruction. According to the Post, WorldCom fraudster Bernie Ebbers used a similar argument and managed to stay out of prison while his appeal wended its way through the courts.

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Things I saw that left my jaw swinging: Part 4

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Douglas Bell

One last bit of business is left over from last week’s roundup of year-enders: I recall a July moment when Eddie Greenspan, who would take questions from a pudding cup if it turned up with a microphone, demonstrated a flair for hypocrisy unmatched by his fellow officers of the court. Eddie sent an e-mail to Toronto Life denouncing Mark Steyn as a liar and all-around scoundrel for suggesting that the Eddies had sought to extract an extra million each from Lord Black within days of the summary argument. The following morning, Greenspan confronted me and denounced me in front of a crowd for having the temerity to publish said missive on this blog “without my permission.” Asked about the entire matter some weeks later, a senior member of the defence bar in Toronto took a sardonic expression before responding, “Maybe he didn’t ask for a million.”

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Bungle and delay: The OSC doesn’t strike again

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Douglas Bell

As I reported in Monday’s post, the Ontario Securities Commission’s effort at holding the Hollinger Four to account for their various financial transgressions was meant to be up and running Tuesday afternoon (and by “up and running” I mean, of course, a hearing to hammer out a schedule aimed at holding The Four accountable, etc., etc.). Yesterday morning, a press release arrived from the OSC announcing that the hearing has been further delayed until March 28: Continue...


If you want objectivity, go read the Globe

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Douglas Bell

When I started this blog back in March of last year, it was decided that, beyond my opening gambit, I would more or less restrain myself from entering into debate with the scores of contributors whose work defines and sustains the Trial of Conrad Black. I’ve only entered the discussion a couple of times, mostly to set the record straight if an otherwise intelligent thread was threatened by egregious errors of fact—mine or another’s.

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Things I saw that left my jaw swinging: Part 3

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Among the milestones in the trial of Conrad Black, this one has about it an air of finality. The Globe and Mail reported this morning that Conrad Black has a prison registration number: 18330-424. He joins, among others, fellow corporate cons Jeffrey Skilling (25296-179), Bernie Ebbers (56022-054) and Andrew Fastow (14343-179) in adding the honour to his CV. This latest designation was revealed in light of what might, depending on your point of view, be the sweetest or bitterest irony of Black’s imbroglio to date:

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Things I saw that left my jaw swinging: Part 2

Posted on January 3, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Besides Times man James Bone, the most theatrical character on offer during the Black trial was Tom Bower. He is a naturally gregarious—though somewhat laconic, even aristocratic—presence. Looking back, it seemed as though he was perpetually holding court, surrounded by journos made curious by both his trashy money-spinning biography of the Blacks and the concomitant possibility that should Black walk free, Bower himself would be subject to the mother of all lawsuits.

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Things I saw that left my jaw swinging

Posted on December 30, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As much as I dread it, like every other dog and his dog, I’m going to lift my leg and offer up a year-ender. In lieu of the usual categories (winners/losers, laurels/darts, thumbs-up/-down/-sideways) I’ve decided on an entirely subjective metric that allows for my eccentricity, narrative flow and abject laziness. Herewith then are the first three entries in a series of Things I Saw and/or Heard at the Trial of the 10th of This Century So Far™ That Left My Jaw Swinging in the Air Like an Poorly Hinged Window:

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In bed with Justice

Posted on December 28, 2007 by Douglas Bell

With the holidays on and media mentions down to year-end wrap-ups (“it was a tough year for convicted felon and soon to be inmate Conrad Black blah blah blah”), one of the more intriguing threads left dangling in the Conrad Black affair is the recent revelation by Rick Westhead in the Star concerning Wall Street Journal reporter Elena Cherney’s cozy reportorial relationship with lead prosecutor Eric Sussman:

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Mark Steyn vs. the Sun-Times (reprise)

Posted on December 21, 2007 by Douglas Bell

One of the more entertaining sideshows earlier in The Trial of the 10th of This Century So Far™ was the Mark Steyn vs. the Chicago Sun-Times showdown–soap opera, wherein Steyn quit as a columnist at that paper when then-publisher John Cruikshank spiked his column in defence of Black. I sniffed around the edges of this contretemps on into the fall, trying to sort out who did what to whom, when. At one stage I received the following missive from current Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke, whose authority was usurped by his then-publisher:

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When victory is small and rare

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

This morning brought news of a rare victory for his Lordship. In a lawsuit pitting Black against Sotheby’s over the commission from the sale of his New York apartment, the judge has agreed with Black that Sotheby’s didn’t do enough to inform him that it was acting for both parties in the deal. As it turned out, the buyers ratted Black out to the Feds, who seized the proceeds of the sale as ill-gotten gains. Judge Amy St. Eve’s subsequent finding on forfeiture will likely require the government to return $6 million of the $8.9 million to Black. The Globe’s Paul Waldie reports one delicious irony buried in the judge’s finding:

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Lord Black: Something of a saviour

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Brigades of stories yesterday recounting the sentencing of David Radler. Most say more or less the same thing. In cutting his deal, Radler ends up somewhere between lucky and smart—lucky in that had the judge had her druthers, Radler would be serving rather a lot more time. And, irony of ironies, by setting the bar so low in his deal with the government, “fundamental fairness” dictates that the rest of the Hollinger four do proportionally less time than they might have otherwise. Radler ends up, perhaps inadvertently, as something of a saviour for his former partner. Maybe that’s why in yesterday morning’s Star, Black, for the first time since Radler pleaded out, looked back on their 30-year partnership more with disappointed nostalgia than vitriol: “He was a good partner for a long time. I don’t know what went wrong with him. I was happy to work with him for almost 30 years but should have parted company with him then.”

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William F. Buckley vs. Conrad M. Black

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Douglas Bell

On a day when a repentant David Radler probably got what he deserved (which, as it turns out, is less than half the sentence doled out to his decidedly unrepentant former partner), my thoughts turn to another relationship spoiled in the heat of this imbroglio. I’m talking about Lord Black’s recent dust-up with his ideological soulmate William F. Buckley. Last Wednesday, writing on his blog for the National Review (the neo-con publication he founded), Buckley, while careful to ensure that in the broad strokes he states his admiration for Black, was equally careful to distance himself.

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Black Watch: Why reporters are pricks

Posted on December 12, 2007 by Douglas Bell

By and large, reporters are—how to put it?—pricks (myself included, I can assure you). Why else would they so devote themselves to poking their noses into everyone else’s business, then proceed to comment with snot-nosed certainty on subjects they know so little about? Of course, the other side of this foul equation is that, in doing so with such fervour and in such volume, reporters are central to the protection of the diminishing civil rights we currently enjoy. But, rather than reflecting on that bit of sanctimony, how about a couple of examples of the former?

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Black Watch: Reaction from around the world

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As was the case after verdict day, the ink flowed freely in Britain, the U.S. and Canada, bringing news of the continuing traffic accident that is Conrad Black’s current lot. And of course, given “the felon’s” polarizing nature, descriptions and reflections ran the gamut. The term of imprisonment being less than what had been imagined brought a round of muted huzzahs from Conrad’s supporters. The noted American conservative Emmett Tyrrell, writing in The New York Sun, described Black altogether too sunnily, accepting the sentence “silently, politely, but unbowed.” And in his recession before the fourth estate, “Black stood around with his lawyers for 20 minutes, counting off some matters that engrossed him on his fingers. Then he strolled through the mob of reporters hectoring him. He seemed unperturbed.” At the other end of the spectrum was the Chicago Sun-Times, which ran a frankly shameful editorial that made the astonishing assertion “we don’t make a habit of kicking people when they’re down” before proceeding, in almost pornographic and certainly idiotic detail, to do just that.

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Black Watch: Post-Sentencing Report

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Conrad Black’s three-ring circus and pandemonium medicine show came thundering back into town today. And while not so long ago the idea that his nibs would walk out of a courthouse in Chicago well-satisfied at the prospect of five or so years in prison seemed utterly mad, that is exactly what happened.

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Black Watch: Sentenced

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Douglas Bell

His Lordship has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, and ordered to pay $6.1 million in restitution as well as a $120,000 fine. Judge St. Eve will apparently recommend he serve his time at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, home to a minimum security prison. He must report to the facility on March 3, 2008.

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A Conversation with Peter Newman (Part 2)

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Douglas Bell

What follows is the second part of my conversation with Peter C. Newman—whose story on the trial, "A Great Fall," is in the current issue of Toronto Life—regarding his reflections on Conrad Black, the trial and its aftermath.

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A Conversation with Peter Newman (Part 1)

Posted on September 11, 2007 by Douglas Bell

What follows is the transcript of a conversation between myself and Peter C. Newman—whose story on the trial, "A Great Fall," is in the current issue of Toronto Life—regarding his reflections on Conrad Black, the trial and its aftermath.

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A Great Fall

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Watch this space next Monday, September 10. My conversation with Peter C. Newman—about his cover story on Conrad Black in the October issue of Toronto Life—will appear then.

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Words of Wisdom

Posted on August 14, 2007 by Douglas Bell

When not marvelling at the Rogers Cup tennis doings of Federer, Djokovic and Dancevic, I spent a good portion of my weekend with Conrad Black’s take on Richard Nixon. While a doorstopper at over a thousand pages, this biography has the considerable advantage of an author who strongly, clearly and, dare I say, obsessively identifies with his subject. Read through the prism of recent events, the book’s last chapter is like a road map to Black’s version of his own redemption. And while I doubt he imagined having to come back from a stretch in the slammer, Black need only flip open his notebook to remind himself what qualities of character are necessary to persevere and eventually triumph in a Nixonian fashion: “By showing no contrition, but regret at errors committed and carefully laying out his version of the facts, with some remorse, but no guilt or confession of crimes, Nixon gradually seized control of the national puritanical conscience that assaulted him.”

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The Lying Game

Posted on August 3, 2007 by Douglas Bell

What with Amy St. Eve having, for the moment, put paid to Lord Black’s short term travel plans while she contemplates his longer term itinerary, the great man’s four month life-in-limbo before sentencing stretches out before him. It’s not like there’s nothing to do. There’s the appeal, whose odds of success, as Alan Gold pointed out yesterday, are somewhere between slim, slimmer and slimmest. There’s the prospect of further motions to allow Black to travel home. There’s the seemingly endless bounty of civil actions to tend to. Another book or two. And then there are always the sideshows. Take, for instance, the recent contretemps between the Eddies and Mark Steyn. To recap: Steyn reported in the pages of Maclean’s, among other things, that les deux demanded an extra million dollars each from his Lordship just prior to summary arguments. Ed Greenspan wrote—with, let me assure you, Ed Genson’s full concurrence—the following in response:

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Black Talk: A Live Discussion

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Douglas Bell

My conversation with Alan Gold is now on. Please read it here.

UPDATE: Our conversation has now concluded. The transcript follows:

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Black Talk: A Live Discussion (Update)

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Apologies—my conversation with Alan Gold has been delayed until 3:30 p.m. today. Thanks for your patience.

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The Twilight Zone

Posted on August 1, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Today in Room 1241, things were more or less as we left them last time we met. In the morning, there was a guy in shackles and an orange jump suit facing Judge Amy St. Eve. It was a pre-trial hearing for a dope case, and both sides agreed the jury could hear evidence that the defendant told somebody in a recorded conversation that, “He got them guns.” (How the defence was going to spin this remained unclear.) All of which is to suggest that, in St. Eve’s courtroom, it’s same old, same old.

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Black Talk: A Live Discussion

Posted on August 1, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Please join me live tomorrow, August 2, at 2 p.m. ET as Alan Gold and I discuss the current legal fallout. Continue...


With Friends Like These...

Posted on July 31, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Last Friday, we reported on Mark Steyn’s assertion, published in Maclean’s, that the Eddies had asked Lord Black for an additional million bucks each, a day or so before summary arguments. At that time, we somewhat coyly suggested that we’d been unable to confirm the allegation. Of course, what we meant was that we’d asked Eddie Greenspan to comment and hadn’t yet heard back. Late this afternoon, the following arrived via e-mail from the offices of Greenspan, White:

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Collateral Damage

Posted on July 27, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As the long days in Room 1241 stretch out behind him, and the immediacy of the trial gives way to the ambiguities of appeal and the awful possibility of punishment, Conrad Black continues to trail a rough wake behind his juddering juggernaut.

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Conversations With a Juror

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

What follows is an e-mail string over the past couple of days between Douglas Bell and Jean Kelly, a juror in the trial of Conrad Black. It’s a loose shorthand exchange, and while there are sections that may be difficult to follow due to dodgy syntax and leaps of logic, it’s our view that the readers of this blog will benefit from a relatively unmediated view inside the reasoning of a juror in this case.

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All About Eve

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Lawyers like to argue and judges like to adjudicate, and in Room 1241 this afternoon, there was a whole lot more of one than the other. It was Amy St. Eve’s courtroom and those who sought her ear were reduced to something of a sideshow. First we had Eddie Greenspan and Dave Roebuck trying to explain how it is that a secret agreement between the Blacks and Hollinger Inc. restricts the disclosure of assets that might be available to post for bail and/or forfeit. This went over more or less like a lead balloon. Roebuck, who swore up and down at the airport this morning that he wouldn’t say a word in court, ended up having to explain the ins and outs of the deal, to which you could almost hear Her Honour thrumming her fingers. Finally, after much back and forth, St. Eve piped up with one of those questions that allows the world to turn for at least one more day: “Is there anything that would preclude Mr. Black from going back to the parties to free up assets so that they might be posted for bond?” To which the two Canadians shrugged their shoulders and agreed to look into it.

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Travelling Circus

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The waiting area at Pearson’s gate 61 wasn’t a far cry from the alcoves of the Dirksen building this morning. Paul Waldie and Eddie Greenspan took a leisurely stroll to pass the time. A few feet away, David Roebuck, a frizzy haired civil litigator from Heenan Blaikie, held court for a bleary-eyed journo. Roebuck’s advising Eddie on the whys and wherefores of the so-called Mareva injunction freezing the Blacks’ worldwide assets—a subject of some interest to the court at Conrad’s bail hearing this afternoon (2:30 Chicago time). He explained the history of the term Mareva, borne of some arcane corner of British maritime law. Stopping for a moment, he advised that of course everything he was saying was off the record, which, had the journo had the faintest idea what he was talking about might have had some application. Eventually Eddie, looking vaguely like Clarence Darrow—tie-less in a white shirt, sleeves rolled up and wearing suspenders—sidled by. He allowed that he wouldn’t be having much to do with the appeal: “Don’t really know the American law. On the facts, that’s another story. My job today is to get him home, and we’ll move on from there.” Then the group divided (Eddie and Roebuck into business class; the journos in steerage), all of them ready to reacquaint themselves with that fragment of Conrad Black’s harsh reality spinning away in Room 1241.

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Black Day in July

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

It was the sort of bracing gust of reality that leaves hardly any room for description. At 9:30 this morning, Amy St. Eve marched toward the media hordes camped out on the 12th floor and announced, “We have a verdict.” You could actually hear the air being sucked from the wide hallway as scores of journalists rushed to the courtroom door, only to fall back like a heaving beast when marshals forced them into another queue further away. The fellowship of semi-cooperation had now given way to a more primal competitiveness: TV producers yelled down cell phones at cowed underlings; reporters, suddenly working at warp speed, muttered and murmured about the course of a story yet to unfold. Tom Bower, fearful that his editor in London might miss a word, covered his mouth and nose with his hands as he dictated the precious news.

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Guilty

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Conrad Black has been found guilty on four charges, including mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Peter Atkinson, Mark Kipnis and Jack Boultbee were each found guilty on three charges of mail fraud.

More to come...

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"We have a verdict"

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Came the announcement from Amy St. Eve this morning. Conrad Black—beleaguered and beloafered though he may be—is on the verge of freedom or exile. The verdict is half an hour away and the fates, in the guise of 12 "ordinary Americans," will have their say.

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Waiting Game

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Douglas Bell

While we await a verdict in Conrad Black et al. v. the United States, the 12th floor of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Building (home to Courtroom 1241) looks like the grounds of the Glastonbury rock festival. Amid the spare elegance of Mies van der Rohe’s furnishings, journalists and their gear are strewn along hallways and in alcoves. The judge has decreed that all parties have only half an hour to gather should a verdict come down, and 15 minutes should there be a need to discuss a communication from the jury. The lawyers and at least some of the defendants are holed up in a nearby office building. The journalists, playing out a scene somewhere between Waiting for Godot and the final episode of Seinfeld, have only the courthouse itself as their refuge. On a day when absolutely nothing of any consequence happened, some tapped away at more or less meaningless updates, while others, assigned by editors anxious to keep their charges occupied, wrote unrelated stories. Still others lounged, reading novels and chewing over the old wars in the hopes that a note from the jury would break the tedium. The fear of missing the great event was palpable. At one stage, a small group motored out for lunch, constantly checking and rechecking their various CrackBerrys in case the word came down. The court has appointed four journalists to inform the rest should a decision be imminent. This in turn has led to a debate: would any or all of them feel a greater obligation to e-mail their respective news organizations first, before their inky colleagues, thereby seizing a tiny advantage in the 24/7 Vimy that constitutes the modern news wars?

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Black Talk: Now Live

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Douglas Bell

We are taking your questions about the trial now. Please go here.

Update: the discussion has now closed. Continue reading for the transcript.

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Black Talk: A Live Discussion

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Tomorrow, Friday, June 29, at noon ET, I will be answering questions from readers about the trial. The discussion will be live for one hour, and the transcript will be available on the site afterwards. You can submit questions in advance or during the discussion by going here. Only visitors that are registered users on Torontolife.com can submit questions. You can register here. I look forward to chatting with you all.

Update: The discussion is starting now here

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The Jury is Out: A Live Discussion

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Douglas Bell

At 5 p.m. ET, I will be chatting with Alan Gold about the legal matters surrounding the trial. You can read the live conversation here. Our Business Brief correspondent Roger Martin will join us at 6 p.m. This will be a closed discussion, but readers are invited to comment on the final transcript.

Update: the transcript is now available.

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June 26 Live Discussion

Posted on June 25, 2007 by Douglas Bell

On Tuesday, June 26, Alan Gold, Roger Martin and myself will be discussing legal and business matters related to the trial. The discussion will get underway at 5 p.m. ET and conclude at 7 p.m. The discussion will be closed to the public, but your comments are encouraged. A subsequent discussion with readers will be held a couple of days later. Stay tuned for more information about that conversation. Continue...


Put Your Eds Together

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Yesterday was a banner—if somewhat disjointed—day for the defence. Eddie Greenspan’s presentation in the morning had a certain formal elegance. Standing behind a lectern, reading from a prepared text, he began with a pleading rarely heard in an American courtroom: “May it please the court.” This was yet another example of Greenspan’s wry detachment from the American judicial system, a pose he has maintained throughout. (For instance, the absence of the Crown notwithstanding, he bows to the bench on each occasion he enters the courtroom.) Beyond that, the substance of his nearly three hours—set out in a grave (if slightly fusty) tone—turned on the “awesome” responsibility weighing on the jury. He reminded his audience several different ways of the importance of the presumption of innocence, of reasonable doubt, and that each of the jurors must weigh the evidence for him or herself and not be swayed by the majority opinion (a theme that reminds the listener that for the defence, a lone voice is sometimes the difference between conviction and a hung jury).

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Ruder Awakening

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Yesterday was Julie Ruder’s day. With her dad proudly looking on from the gallery, the 30-something single mother of two gave a bravura seven-hour performance, summarizing the case for the prosecution before a jam-packed courtroom. By turns calmly articulate, maternal (sometimes to the point of coddling) and righteously indignant, Ruder aimed her theatrics at winning the favour of the only audience that counts—the jury. “Conrad Black is not a rules guy, ladies and gentleman,” she said, using a just-us-folks style that, while striking some in the press corps as patronizing, clearly resonated. Her metaphors and analogies were a pastiche of pop culture and Midwest vernacular. She referred to the stipulations in contracts as “deal or no deal.” In ridiculing the Mammoth Times deal (for which Black demanded non-compete payments in what would only ever be a one newspaper town), she implored her audience to “Look at the cover. Those are snowboarders, people.” She sneered at the idea that Barbara’s birthday party was a business event. “Look at the guest list: Oscar de la Renta, Donald Trump. Come on!” Trump’s celebrity status came up again when Ruder suggested that Black’s asking him to help quell a shareholder revolt at the 2003 annual meeting—the infamous “esoteric favour”—was part of an overall effort to hoodwink the shareholders. What did [Black et al.] think? she asked. “That maybe the shareholders wouldn’t notice that they’d stolen $60 million dollars? It’s the ultimate disdain. It’s offensive.”

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Court Gestures

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Over the course of two days in and around Room 1241, there were several opportunities to view Lord Black in his somewhat captive state. He spoke twice: once to confirm publicly that he had in fact reviewed a document entered into evidence and the second time to waive his right to testify at trial. The rest of the time, he seemed to oscillate between engagement and remove. As his mien quickened, he displayed more and more of the theatrical quality that justifies his charismatic reputation. He’s obviously made an impression around the courtroom. While the press remains somewhat wary, Black has an easy, collegial, if slightly paternal, relation with several of the U.S. marshals who enforce the protocols in St. Eve’s courtroom. Walking out of court on Monday, he wrapped a paw around one, called him by name, and in a conspiratorial whisper asked, “Have you ever heard so much nonsense in your life?”

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Hard Knock Life

Posted on May 7, 2007 by Douglas Bell

In case you were wondering what everybody’s favourite hip hop star’s been up to lately, submerged as I am in the minutiae of the United States v. Conrad Black et al., I can tell you this much: looking for a blessed relief from courthouse hostilities, I spent Saturday night watching Floyd Mayweather beat the crap out of Oscar De La Hoya. I noticed Fitty Cent was rappin’ for Mayweather as he led him to the ring. In other news from the ’hood, R. Kelly has retained Black’s co-counsel Edward Genson to defend him against child pornography charges, and the next morning, perusing page 14 of the New York Times’ Sunday Style section, I was drawn to a photograph of former Hollinger International board member Marie-Josée Kravis chillin’ ’n’ stylin’ with Jay-Z the night after her final day of testimony.

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Double Standards

Posted on April 27, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Perhaps it’s the first sign of trial-induced dementia, but lately I’ve been struck by certain paradoxical parallels between the travails of Conrad Black and the travails of Paul Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz is the former deputy secretary of defence credited with having set out the policy priorities that led to the American invasion of Iraq. A couple of years ago, George Bush pegged him as the new president of the World Bank. Lately he’s been in hot water over exerting undue influence to get his girlfriend (who worked for the bank at the time) a raise. But of course the real reason is a fundamental disagreement between the Bank’s international bureaucracy and Wolfowitz over policy. The faceless ones are angry because he seems less interested in development than in developing standards of “governance” to combat corruption. That Wolfowitz engaged in an arguably corrupt practice made him a sitting duck, but such defenders as David Frum suggest that one needs to keep the bigger picture in mind:

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Honourable Discharge

Posted on April 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Realizing as I do that the very mention of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada fairly shouts at even the most curious reader “Avert your eyes!” I have to ask: How is it that the Honourable Conrad Black P.C. can renounce his citizenship in Canada, yet remain a member of a body that requires the following oath in order for prospective members to assume their duties:

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