The judge presiding over the trial of Conrad Black has told his lawyers to stop him from talking to the media, according to a report.
In a story published Friday, the National Post reported that prosecutors had complained to Judge Amy St. Eve after Black gave a series of interviews outside the Chicago court last week in which he criticized testimony from David Radler.
Radler — a former business partner of Black’s — had told the court that Black was the one who orchestrated the diversion of millions of dollars away from the shareholders of Hollinger International.
The Post reported that court documents show that St. Eve told Black’s defence lawyers, “If you can’t control him … I’d be happy to do it.”
After Radler completed his two weeks on the stand, Black told reporters that he didn’t think “any jury in the world would convict anybody on the basis of what he said.”
Black later that day gave an interview to the CBC’s Mike Hornbrook, in which he said, “If there is any criminal in this case, the government’s supposedly ‘star witness’ is the criminal.”
