Friday, August 19, 2005

Talk your way out of this one, Conrad

From today's Toronto Star:

Black lieutenant to plead guilty
Fallen media baron's firm, execs indicted

Conrad Black's legal problems appeared to take a serious turn for the worse yesterday when his long-time business partner agreed to co-operate with the U.S. Department of Justice, giving it a crucial ally in its criminal probe of the besieged newspaper baron.

(much omitted here)
...
"Today's indictment charges that insiders at Hollinger, whose job it was to safeguard the shareholders, made it their job to steal and conceal," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote.

I spent an afternoon interviewing Conrad Black many years ago, for the late, lamented Financial Times of Canada. Like everyone else, I came away vaguely repulsed by his arrogance, but dazzled by his intellectual brilliance.

As a businessman, though, he spent way too much time with lawyers.

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