Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (* August 25, 1944 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada ) is a former press magnate.
He dominated the print media in Canada, bought in the 1980s and 1990s, renowned newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph in London, The Jerusalem Post and the Sun Times in Chicago and built the by the corporate groups of Rupert Murdoch and the Gannett Company, Inc., formerly third largest newspaper empire in the world.
2003 was uncovered by internal and other studies have shown that Black and other top managers of its Canadian companies holding Hollinger International secretly and at the Supervisory Board and the Mitvorständlern past had embezzled around 84 million dollars.
On 15 December 2005, Conrad Black was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, $ 84 million diverted " fraudulently " in their own and in the pockets of accomplices, as well as perks that were meant for the employees of the company, for its to have wife Barbara Amiel -Black abused. Opened in Chicago on 14 March 2007 trial - USA vs. Conrad M. Black, John A. Boultbee, Peter Y. Atkinson, Mark S. Kipnis and The Ravelston Corp.. Ltd.. ( Court File No. 05 CR 727. ) - With numerous prominent witnesses was regarded as the century methods.
Early life and career
Conrad Black was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Montreal, Canada. His father George Montegu Black, II ( born June 3, 1911 † 29 June 1976) was President of Canadian Breweries, the largest brewing company in North America as well as shareholders of Argus Corporation. Blacks mother, Jean Elizabeth (nee Riley ) ( † 1976), was born in Winnipeg and was a daughter of Conrad Stephenson Riley, whose father founded the Great-West Assurance Company, and thus had become rich.
Black first went to Upper Canada College, one of the most respected English language schools in Canada, she had to leave at fourteen but because it had copied exam papers and sold them to his classmates. He then attended Trinity College School, from which he was expelled a year later because of " unruly behavior ". He finally received his degree at a third private school - Thornton Hall in Toronto.
He studied at Carleton University in Ottawa and graduated here in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. Black studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and then at Laval University in Montreal, at last in 1970 at McGill University with an MA (Master of Arts / Master of Arts ) to acquire. His thesis he wrote about Maurice Duplessis ( born April 20, 1890 † September 7, 1959 ), the long-time Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec. In 1977 he published this work as a book.
During his studies, he used his father's money and acquired in 1966 its first newspaper - the Eastern Townships Advertiser ( more of a display sheet than a newspaper ). The sheet was read in the area southeast of Montreal mainly by wealthy farmers and landowners. Black was boss and only employee of the local paper, most of the articles written yourself
In 1969 he sold the Eastern Townships Advertiser and acquired along with David Radler and Peter G. White for $ 20,000 the Sherbrooke Record, Quebec, a small English - language daily newspaper. 1971, Black, Radler and White Sterling Newspapers Limited, a holding company which followed numerous small Canadian regional newspapers under its umbrella united ( The sterling newspaper chain).
Argus Corporation and media group
In June 1976 in quick succession the mother and the father of Conrad Black died. From his father's inheritance to him 22.4 percent of the Argus Corporation fell to. The Argus Corporation was in 1945 by tycoon Edward Plunket Taylor ( born January 29, 1901 † 14 May 1989), John Angus " Bud " McDougald ( born March 14, 1908 † March 15, 1978 ) and Conrad Black's father George Montague Black II was established, as a corporate holding company and investment funds.
In 1978, the Argus Corporation united a number of well known companies under its umbrella - such as Canadian Breweries, Ltd. Massey Ferguson. ( Canada's largest multinational agricultural machinery company ), Dominion Stores Ltd.. ( Canada's largest supermarket chain ), Standard Broadcasting ( operators of CFRB, the leading radio station in Toronto, as well as CJAD, its English -language counterpart in Montreal), the wood products giant Domtar Inc., then the significant gold mining company Hollinger Mines ( in Timmins, Ontario ) and Norcen energy, an energy and pipeline companies. In addition, the Argus had some significant shareholdings in a number of companies such as Dominion Malting Co., Orange Crush Ltd.. or British Columbia Forest Products Ltd. .. The holding was so powerful that it stood in 1975 at the center of an investigation by the Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration.
When in March 1978 John Angus " Bud " McDougald died, one of the founders of the Argus Corp.. , Black acquired the inherited by the widow Dougalds shares and was able to gain control of the company. He was at that time 33 years old and now in a position to carry out his plans. He sold numerous holdings of Argus Corporation and built Hollinger Mines - which he renamed Hollinger Inc. - a media - holding to.
Following the acquisition of the " Jerusalem Post ", he dismissed most of the old employees and moved the leaf line in the moderate - right Israeli spectrum.
Family
On July 14, 1978 Conrad Black Joanna Hishon married in Montreal. The couple had three children. The first son Jonathan David Conrad (Black ) was born before the marriage on 18 November 1977. Hishon was married at that time still with another man and was divorced in May 1978. The daughter Alana Whitney Elizabeth (Black) was born on 28 June 1982, the second son of James Patrick Leonard (Black) on February 13, 1986.
Blacks shops flourished, but at the same time alienated the couple. They separated in 1991, followed in 1992 divorce. Black convert to the Catholic faith, while his wife remained active Zionist.
Conrad Black married in July 1992, the British journalist and writer Barbara Amiel ( born December 4, 1940), which was a columnist for the Times of London at that time and had already been married to Conrad Black David Graham, George Jonas and Gary Smith before this marriage.
The Process (2007)
On 15 December 2005 Conrad Black was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, the seat of the Hollinger holding company to have " diverted fraudulently " $ 84 million from the sale of the newspaper group - and into his own pocket and in the pockets of complicity from the company. In addition, Black has abused " perks " of the company for his wife Barbara. So a 40,000 - dollar birthday party for Barbara Amiel -Black, as well as part of a $ 600,000 vacation in Bora Bora were financed through the Group's cash and others. Parts of the content of Blacks butler, chauffeur, cook and housemaid were also charged on company costs such as maintenance costs for Blacks apartment in the elegant Park Avenue in Manhattan ( $ 100,000 annually ).
It was also taken to court, why the star-studded board of the company - which, inter alia, Ex - Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the former Bush security advisor Richard Perle and former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson belonged, - all this is not noticed had.
The lawyer Jay Eisenhofer, who represented the plaintiff shareholders in civil law, said:
"You have fails to prevent Lord Black in mind exempt the company. I ... do not think they knew anything about what was going on, but they would have to. ... It 's fine to go to the board meeting, it is fine to cash the check. It 's fine to be treated like a king. But it also depends on some responsibility, and if you do not exercise your responsibility, then pull your shareholders now accountable. "
The court proceedings were opened in Chicago on March 14, 2007. Was performed, the case of Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the Star Lawyers in America. Edward Greenspan ("Fast Eddie" ), as well as prominent as Fitzgerald had taken over Blacks defense. He is considered the Topanwalt Canada and represents, inter alia, also the German arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. To kick off the process, the Black prosecutor and his co-defendants had presented as " greedy thieves ":
" You sit here in a room with four men who have stolen millions of dollars because they held their six - and seven-figure salaries for insufficient. Bank robber mask ... and use weapons, these four here wear ties and suits. "
On July 13, 2007 Black was found guilty along with three high-ranking employees of the Hollinger holding company for fraud. On 10 December, he was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison and fined in mid single-digit millions. He was released in May 2012 from prison.