Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 11, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba Top news Winnipeg free press tuesday december 11, 2007 a5 Winnipeg repress. Com i t has been nine months since i last wrote of my sympathy for Conrad Black Winnipeg Gas almost Hometown boy. I say almost because his family roots and even the roots of the fraud Case against him run deep in Winnipeg. Blacks parents were from Winnipeg. And the heart of the Case against him at least originally were non compete fees demanded by the Asper family during their Purchase of the National Post and what Are now the can West group of newspapers. In fact the Chicago judge in the Case agreed to have Leonard Asper give a deposition from Winnipeg rather than give direct evidence at the trial. Ill get Back to that Winnipeg connection. But first i want to explain Why i feel pity for such a pompous unrepentant Crook. Actually ism still struggling with the Why. As i was on March 24, As the trial was beginning and i wrote admiringly about Blacks Majestic and unwavering bearing through his trials and my Hopes that the jury would Cut Black some Slack. Given the brutally heartless Way his company treated striking journalists never mind the Way he pocketed millions of shareholders Money i should be celebrating Blacks sentencing monday before judge Amy St. Eve. She slapped him with 78 months in prison fined him us 125,000 and ordered him to repay us 6.1 million. The prosecution wanted 24 years which would have amounted to a life sentence for a 63 year old Man. My sympathy for Black has nothing to do with the Winnipeg connection As intriguing As it is. Conradus paternal grandparents arrived in Winnipeg in the last Quarter of the 19th Century. Grandfather George Montegu Black was president of Drew yes ltd., the Beer bottlers and a partner in a real estate and investment company. Conradus maternal family members were no paupers either. They were and still Are the Riley of Winnipeg. Sanford Sandy Riley the prominent local businessman is Conradus first Cousin. The Black family is fortunes faltered during the 1930s. The great depression Conrad wrote in his 1993 autobiography had convinced my father that Prosperity a Fortune in fact was essential to happiness. George Montegu Black ii and Jean Elizabeth Betty Riley were married in 1937. They moved to Montreal in 1940, where Conrad was born. During the Summers his Mother would bring the family Back to Lake of the Woods where George Richardson once told me he taught Young Conrad How to swim. The Florida prison Black will report to in Early March wont be anything like the cottage time with Winnipeg Gas wealthy. Whether Conrad Black sinks or swims there i suspect will depend on How he manages his moods. He has been prone to bouts of anxiety and depression in the past. Maybe thatus Why i Felt for and still feel for Conrad Black. Because i see him As a human being not a caricature. Someone who in the end Hurt himself More than he probably Ever intended to Hurt others. Still my sympathies aside Conrad Black got what he deserved. A jury and a judge who Cut Black some Slack. But still sent him to prison. Gordon. Sinclair free press. My. Ca by Romina Maurino c hic ago the Price of Conrad Blacks misdeeds at the Helm of his now defunct newspaper Empire has been set at six and a half years in a u. S. Prison. On top of his time in jail Blacks convictions for fraud and obstruction of Justice also carry a us 125,000 Fine and the forfeiture of us 6.1 million. Standing expressionless before judge Amy St. Eve in a Chicago courtroom monday the former newspaper magnate was told he will serve a total of 78 months in prison and afterwards a two year period of unsupervised release. No one is above the Law in the United states St. Eve told Black. I cannot understand How someone of your stature could engage in the conduct you engaged in and put everything at risk she said. But in the United states or. Black there is equal Justice under the Law. After giving Black a lighter than expected prison term St. Eve also sentenced two other co defendants who were convicted of fraud earlier with him. Toronto based executive John Boultbee former co of the Hollinger group of newspaper companies controlled by Black was sentenced to 27 months in jail and will pay $ 152,500 in fines and restitution. Meanwhile Peter Atkinson chief Legal counsel for Hollinger was sentenced to 24 months in jail and was Given a $ 3,000 Fine. Lead prosecutor Eric Sussman asked that Black be taken immediately into custody his own lawyers responding that Black was neither a danger to society nor at risk of flight. Hers not one to run and hide. Hers not a Coward said lawyer Marc Martin. St. Eve gave Black a March 3 Date to report to a Federal prison. She recommended Eglin prison Camp not far from his Palm Beach Fla., mansion but officials later said the Federal facility the first to be dubbed club fed for its lax rules and relative Comfort had been closed. Later it was revealed Black is expected to report to a Low to medium Security prison in Coleman Fla. Instead. In a Brief statement to the court before sentencing Black said he was sorry about the losses suffered by shareholders of his former newspaper Empire and told St. Eve we have the verdicts we have and we cant retry this Case. I do wish to express profound regret and sadness for the severe hardship inflicted on All the shareholders. When Hollinger Stock plummeted after allegations of corporate wrongdoing against Black and other executives his former bravado and bluster gone Black also said he has never once uttered one disrespectful word about this court your honour the jurors or the process. Black and the others were originally charged with swindling shareholders out of an estimated us 60 million by collecting payments from purchasers of hol lingers u. S. And Canadian newspapers. The payments were in Exchange for promises not to return and compete with the papers new owners. Earlier monday Black had walked into the courthouse confident and smiling in the morning accompanied by his wife Barbara Amiel Black and daughter Alana Black. After the sentencing he was still smiling offering Only no comment As he left the courtroom with his family and a tight lipped the fact that were appealing Speaks for itself As he and his family edged through a knot of reporters and into the familiar Cadillac Escalade to be whisked away. Defence lawyer Eddie Greenspan said he was not Happy with the verdict and ism not pleased today that he got a single Day in jail. The Canadian press whats next where will Conrad Black serve judge Amy St. Eve suggested he report to Eglin prison Camp not far from his Palm Beach Fla., mansion and the first facility to be dubbed club fed for its lax rules. But prison officials said that facility is closed. Instead Black is expected to report to a Low to medium Security prison in Coleman Fla. However the nature of the crimes Black has been convicted of mean hers expected to serve his time in a Low Security institution says prof. Peter Henning a professor of Law at Wayne state University in Detroit and an expert on White Collar crime in the u. S. It wont be big Walls barbed wire and armed guards but it will be a facility that will have some measure of Security he said in an Telephone interview from Detroit. What can the former Media Mogul expect in prison raised in a life of privilege Black will have to Bear the sound a prison Gate slamming shut and Wear a uniform. He will live in a dormitory with other inmates but unlike the to image of most prisons Blacks life is unlikely to be in any danger says Henning. He will no longer be called lord Black guards will refer to him by his prison number or last name As they order him out of bed and to work assignments that he May wince at in dread. He will receive no deferential treatment. He will have to share facilities like showers and bathrooms neither of which have doors on them says Henning. The prison Chow would also be a dietary stretch from the five Star dinners he is used to. His meal choices will not be what hers used to said Henning. His diet will be prison food which probably makes military or College dorm food look Good in comparison. He will be allowed visitors in a common room and Light physical Contact such As a hug but there will be no conjugal visits with wife Barbara Amiel Black to look Forward to. Blacks Days of Leisure Are at an end and hell be kept on a strict schedule of when to work eat and sleep. How Long could this go on unlike in Canada where he could serve a third of his sentence and be released Black will be forced in the United states Black to serve 85 per cent of his term before being Able to seek parole. Is Conrad alone in his suffering far from it. The u. S. Incarcerated More people per capita than any other country on Earth said a report from human rights watch in quoting figures from the u. S. Bureau of Justice statistics. In fact Jamie Fellner associate counsel for human rights watch reports that one of every 142 residents of the u. S. Is behind bars a rate second Only to Rwanda. The Canadian press Black to serve 6 1/ 2 years in prison no one is above the Law in the United states judge to disgraced tycoon ism sorry but Black got what he deserved Tom Hanson / the Canadian press Conrad Black talks to his wife Barbara Amiel Black after being sentenced to More than six years in prison. Gordon Sinclair or ;