Longtime Partner at Hollinger Testifies He and Black Conspired to Divert Millions
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By RICHARD SIKLOS
Published: May 9, 2007
CHICAGO, May 8 — Conrad M. Black’s longtime business partner, F. David Radler, testified Tuesday at Mr. Black’s criminal fraud trial that the two men conspired to divert millions of dollars of payments for assets of the newspaper company Hollinger International.
Federal prosecutors say that the diversions, which went to a Canadian company controlled by Mr. Black, defrauded shareholders of Hollinger International, which is based in Chicago, out of more than $60 million.
Mr. Radler, who has pleaded guilty to a single fraud count and is testifying as a crucial prosecution witness, said that he kept both Hollinger International’s audit committee and its board in the dark about the distribution of so-called noncompete payments, collected as part of the sale of Hollinger International newspapers.
In some cases, he said, the independent directors and audit committee members were simply not told that he and Mr. Black had unilaterally decided to insert their names and those of three other co-defendants in several transactions and to determine how much money they would receive.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/business/09black.html?ref=business