INDEPTH: CONRAD BLACK
Conrad Black: Lager-heir to London lord
CBC News Online | November 18, 2005
He was born Conrad Moffat Black on August 25, 1944, in Montreal. His father, George Black, was a wealthy brewery executive.
He studied his way to a history degree at Carleton University, a law degree from Laval and an MA from McGill.
Conrad Black
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In his 20s, Black began buying small Canadian newspapers and, in 1971, he co-founded the Sterling Newspapers Group. In 1978, he became chair of the Argus Corporation – a position he used as a launch-pad to start the Hollinger group. By the 1990s Hollinger controlled 60 per cent of Canadian newspaper titles, as well as hundreds of dailies in the U.S., England, Australia and Israel.
Black became known for taking over newspapers and chopping away the fat (and much of the meat as well), resulting in job losses. Criticism aside, these newspapers often turned a profit within a year. So large was his appetite for newspapers that at one point, he was the third-largest newspaper publisher in the world. At its peak in 1999, Hollinger had revenues over $2 billion.
All the money and fame (or infamy) that came with this empire was not quite enough for Black – he wanted a title to go along with it.
In 1999, the British government moved to make him Lord Black. This elicited strong opposition from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who pointed to the Nickle Resolution of 1919, which ruled that foreign governments could not grant honours to Canadians that carry a title or privilege. Black challenged the ruling unsuccessfully in court.
Crossharbour station in London
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Determined to get his title, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship and was officially inducted into the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour on October 31, 2001. Crossharbour is the name of a neighbourhood as well as a subway stop on the Docklands light railway, near the Daily Telegraph building.
Black later renounced, or rather sold, many of his Canadian media holdings, including the National Post, which he started in 1998 to compete with The Globe and Mail.
Hollinger International's holdings are now a shadow of what they used to be.
It sold the Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post in 2004.
It still owns the Chicago Sun-Times, several affiliated newspapers in the U.S. midwest, the Sherbrooke Record, (the first paper Conrad Black
bought), and about a dozen smaller papers in British Columbia.
Conrad Black is sworn in as Lord Black of Crossharbour (Oct. 31, 2001)
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He's not just a tycoon. Black has written several books, including an autobiography, a book about Maurice Duplessis and one about Franklin Roosevelt. And although he owns many presses, he's also got a lot of press for his conservative views and his very public disagreement with Jean Chrétien about the peerage. He has weighed in heavily with his views that Britain should join NAFTA and that Canada should become part of the U.S.
His wife, Barbara Amiel, is an outspoken columnist, who at one time wrote for his competitor, Rupert Murdoch. The couple is on many top-level guest lists in Britain, and her strong conservative views are similar to many of his.
On Nov. 17, 2003, Black announced he would step down as CEO of U.S.-based newspaper conglomerate Hollinger International. The move followed findings of a special committee that Black and other senior Hollinger executives received $32.15 million in unauthorized payments.
The committee of Hollinger's board found that payments "styled as 'non-competition payments' were made that were not authorized or approved by either the audit committee or the full board of directors of Hollinger."
Of that, Black and chief operating officer David Radler each received $7.2 million, and $16.6 million went to parent company Hollinger Inc. Two other Hollinger execs received just over $600,000 each.
Black, however, denied any wrongdoing and described his departure as a "retirement."
Parent company Hollinger Inc. is $120 million US in debt, and Black has previously denied rumours that he would give up control of his media empire to get new funding.
But Hollinger International acted first and removed Black as its chairman in January 2004, just hours after announcing a $200-million US lawsuit against him and Radler.
The suit accused them of using "sham" accounting to divert corporate assets, and demands that Black and Radler refund all salaries and dividends they collected during the disputed time period.
Black responded by announcing he would sell his stake in Hollinger Inc. to Press Holdings International, a British conglomerate run by twins David and Frederick Barclay. Ownership of Toronto-based Hollinger Inc. would give Press Holdings control of the Hollinger International newspaper chains.
But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order against Hollinger International to force its executives to try to protect its corporate assets even if the sale went through.
But Conrad Black's deal with the Barclay brothers fell apart soon after and Hollinger
International later sold its British titles, including the Daily Telegraph to
the Barclays for 665 million pounds.
On Aug. 31, 2004, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made public a report by a special committee of Hollinger International.
The report says that former CEO Conrad Black and other executives took hundreds of millions of dollars they weren't entitled to. It accuses controlling shareholders and their affiliates of transferring to themselves more than $400 million in the last seven years.
Black's holding company, Ravelston Corp., dismissed the report, saying there were "factual and tainting misrepresentations and inaccuracies" and that the issues would be resolved in court.
In September 2004, a group of Canadian investors launched a class-action lawsuit against Conrad Black and several of his associates seeking at least $4 billion in damages. The suit seeks to recover market losses that may have been caused by controversies involving Black's management and allegations he and associates took hundreds of millions of dollars they weren't entitled to.
On Oct. 8, 2004, the $1.25-billion US racketeering lawsuit against Black brought by Hollinger International was thrown out by a U.S. Federal Court judge, but Black's legal troubles didn't end there.
On Nov. 15, less than two weeks after Black resigned as chairman and chief executive of Hollinger Inc., the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission laid a civil fraud lawsuit against Black, Hollinger's former deputy chairman and chief operating officer David Radler, and Hollinger Inc. The suit accuses Black and Radler of improperly diverting tens of millions of dollars from Hollinger International.
Black faced new legal troubles in 2005. In March, he learned that U.S. authorities had opened a criminal investigation into his activities. Ontario stock market regulators also filed notice that they would launch proceedings against Black, three former associates and Hollinger Inc. for alleged violations of securities laws.
Two months later, in an eyebrow-raising twist, Black, his chauffeur and a personal assistant were caught on a security video removing 12 boxes of files from the Toronto headquarters of Hollinger Inc. The removal occurred despite an Ontario court order that barred Black from taking documents from Hollinger's offices. Black's lawyer said the boxes contained "personal" item not covered by the court order, but says they will be returned.
In September 2005, former Black associate David Radler pleaded guilty to a single count
of mail fraud for his part in a scheme to divert more than $32 million US from Hollinger
International. He was given a reduced 29-month jail term in exchange for agreeing to testify for the U.S. government.
Black's Toronto-based holding company, Ravelston, was also charged.
A month later, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago seized almost $9 million US from the
sale of Black's New York apartment, saying the proceeds were accumulated through
fraud.
The legal proceedings against Black turned criminal in November 2005. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago charged Black with eight counts of mail fraud and wire fraud relating to the alleged diversion of millions from Hollinger International. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
For Lord Black of Crossharbour, it was the most damaging accusation yet in a long and public fall from grace.
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