Reply #5: Conrad Black's U.S. trial hinges on executive graft

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN1121625720070311

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fallen press baron Conrad Black goes on trial this week in Chicago, insisting that charges of pilfering $84 million in proceeds from his crumbling media empire represent the persecution of the powerful.

Jury selection begins on Wednesday in U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve's courtroom in what promises to be a lengthy and complex federal trial packed with financial details that could test even Black's famously prodigious memory.

"A lot of people see Conrad Black as a martyr and a victim of an overzealous legal system," said lawyer Andrew Stoltmann, an expert on investment fraud who plans to watch portions of the anticipated four-month trial.

If convicted on fraud, racketeering and other charges, the 62-year-old Black, a member of Britain's House of Lords, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

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Upon buying newspapers, Black and his former partner David Radler would cut costs and put Black's neoconservative stamp on the publications' editorials. Radler has pleaded guilty and will likely be the prosecution's star witness.

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