Appeals Court Affirms Conrad Black Conviction

The former Hollinger International Inc. chairman serving a 6 1/2-year prison term for fraud and obstruction of justice, Conrad Black, and three ex-deputies had their convictions affirmed by a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago today rejected arguments by Black's lawyers that he didn't get a fair trial. A jury in Chicago federal court last year found him and three former Hollinger officials guilty of stealing $6.1 million from the company as they engineered the sale of more than $3 billion of its assets.

"They are making a no harm-no foul argument," U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner wrote for the three-judge panel, rejecting defense claims they were owed the bulk of the money they took. "Such arguments usually fare badly in criminal cases."

Black, 63, helped found Chicago-based Hollinger, now known as the Sun-Times Media Group Inc., working with the former president of the company, David Radler, to create what was once the world's third-largest English-language newspaper publisher.

Prosecutors indicted all five Hollinger officials in 2005. Black was also found guilty of obstructing justice.