Jury Sifts Newspaper Sales in Black Case

One-time media baron Conrad Black leaves federal court Wednesday, June 27, 2007, in Chicago. A federal judge sent the fraud and racketeering trial of Black and other former executives at Hollinger International to a jury Wednesday after 3 1/2 months of testimony. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (Charles Rex Arbogast - AP)

"The effect here was the individuals ended up with pretty substantial amounts of money," he said. "And at the same time the individuals owed a fiduciary duty to their company to act in the best interests of the company."

Yawns were frequent in the jury dock during the lengthy trial, particularly as attorneys from both sides discussed financial details of newspaper transactions for hours on end. But attorneys and Judge Amy St. Eve also commented on the jurors' overall attentiveness as the non-competes were scrutinized.

Showing that they were wasting no time getting to the heart of the case, the jury's first request in deliberations was to see a prosecution summary chart illustrating the various newspaper transactions and related non-compete payments.

"I don't think we should underestimate this jury's intelligence, their ability to grasp the issues," said Steven Skurka, a criminal defense lawyer from Toronto who is commentating on the trial for Canadian television.

He said he got the sense just from how jurors took notes that they were "not having a lot of difficulties."

"At the end of the day, especially with fraud, you're talking about an intention to deceive," Skurka said. "And that's not a difficult factual issue to understand. Ultimately you're trying to decide 'Was this person dishonest?'"

Black's lawyers argued he did not negotiate most of the non-compete deals and had no idea there was anything illegal about them, if there was.

The government, meanwhile, maintained the payments amounted to fraudulent bonuses _ never formally approved by company directors or properly disclosed to shareholders.

Lead prosecutor Eric Sussman said the non-competes "smell to high heaven" and were phony.

Defense lawyers called witnesses emphasizing that the non-compete payments were approved by Hollinger International's audit committee. They also had another strategy: accusing the government's witnesses of fibbing. By the prosecution's count, 14 of its witnesses were accused of lying, most notably Radler.

Regardless of the outcome, the case turned up the level of scrutiny another notch on senior corporative executives.

"This is a trend in American jurisprudence that will not see a retreat," said Roma Theus, chairman of the corporate integrity and white-collar crime committee of the Chicago-based Defense Research Institute and a former federal prosecutor.

"Corporate executives and members of the boards of directors of publicly held companies have reached a turn in the road, and that turn will require a higher level of fiduciary responsibility than in the past. There is no going back."