Lawfuel – From The Times – The trial of Conrad Black heats up in the coming week when his former ally and business partner David Radler gives evidence against the embattled peer.
Radler will tomorrow appear as a star witness for the prosecution, which accuses Black of 14 counts of fraud and racketeering. Black denies the charges.
Radler has promised to deliver his story of his alleged conspiracy with Black and three other defendants to defraud the shareholders of Hollinger International, Black’s American newspaper company, of $60m (£30m).
In 2005 Radler signed a 33-page “plea agreement” with Chicago’s prosecutors. In return for testifying that Black was involved in the fraud, Radler will serve only 29 months in a Canadian “country-club” prison and pay a $250,000 fine. He has already paid $63m in fines and restitution to the Securities and Exchange Commission and civil claimants.
