D
Departed
Guest
[youtube=SzuWvfNDC_A]
D
Departed
Guest
Even better...LOL
[youtube=hBI35DMHjy4]
[youtube=hBI35DMHjy4]
Galvin's Shinpads
Vital Football Legend
Conrad Black, what a prick.
D
Departed
Guest
Maybe but he makes some very valid points. If you listen to the Paxman interview you will realize that he is very likely to overturn the remaining 2 charges. And he will not give up until he does.
Also he is an absolutely brilliant writer. His biography of FDR is excellent.
Galvin's Shinpads
Vital Football Legend
He is a fraudster and a coward. He denies everything and won't take responsibility for his actions.
D
Departed
Guest
Wrong. Again.
Galvin's Shinpads
Vital Football Legend
How am I wrong. It's a fact. He chose to live there. He should have obeyed the rules. He is another wealthy bully who is crying in the press at the moment, thinking it will help his cause.
If he is someone you admire, I'm finished commenting on this thread.
If he is someone you admire, I'm finished commenting on this thread.
D
Departed
Guest
Not sure I admire him. He writes good books. I, and a lot of other people I know, think he was wrongly accused and it was a witch hunt. Most think the other charges will be overturned.
He is brilliant. As a person? No idea. But he definitely is NOT a coward. The man never stops fighting.
He is brilliant. As a person? No idea. But he definitely is NOT a coward. The man never stops fighting.
D
Departed
Guest
I meant the interviews were awesome. It was good to see 2 sides sit there and fight it out instead of one running away.
D
Departed
Guest
Loved the "Who do you think I am, Donald Trump?" comment.
Spursex
Alert Team
IF he does it will be an absolutely astounding turn around.
I followed his case carefully at the time and much of it was conducted in the post-enron hysteria and it was clear that in many respects he was the perfect poster boy for how they'd deal with crooked CEO/Chairmen in future...however, so much of the evidence was emboiled in various cross country company law it became difficult to follow all the detailed arguments.
As I said, if he does turn it around, not only will he end up a staggeringly wealthy man from the compensation he'd get, he'd also have proved himself to be one hell of a fighter..
the interviews are very amusing, as you say, good to see two sides really bash it out.
D
Departed
Guest
Conrad Black: Raising Canada up, while beating inflation down
Republish Reprint
Conrad Black | 13/03/30 | Last Updated: 13/03/28 1:56 PM ET
More from Conrad Black
Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian PressTechnicians work on a hull at Halifax Shipyard in Halifax on March 7.
Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Email Comments More
Many readers have asked that I propose some solutions to the problems, outlined in this column last week, of chronic and almost constant inflation.
I did propose, as I have here and elsewhere before, that I think the budget deficit has to be reduced with taxes on elective spending, and the economy stimulated with reduced income taxes. Elective spending is anything that is entirely optional, such as restaurant meals, holiday travel, automobiles above a certain cost and most financial transactions — but not groceries, children’s or work clothes, gasoline or fuel needed for work or home.
Part of our economic problem throughout the West has been over-reliance on a service economy that does not really add value (such as most legal and consulting bills), and on consumer spending for quickly or instantly depreciating assets. You knew George Bush Sr. was on the political skids when his economic message at the beginning of 1992 exhorted Americans not to save or invest, but to spend. This impulse in the United States, as that country outsourced 60 million jobs while tacitly admitting 20 million unskilled, undocumented workers, has helped create an immense current account deficit. Unsophisticated manufacturing departed to low-cost countries, which then supplied the U.S. through Walmart and Target.
Related
Conrad Black: The economics of bubbles, in Cyprus and here at home
Our own budget will be balanced if we tax optional spending adequately to produce the necessary revenue — particularly if savings and investment are encouraged by realistic interest rates and minimal capital-gains taxes. While I sympathize completely with the motives for it, I think it was a mistake for this government to lower the GST-HST almost across the board rather than just on some categories of spending, while not cutting personal and corporate income taxes.
It is a myth of modern economics that the preferred condition is constant, moderate inflation. The ideal would be no inflation: That supply and demand would always be in balance and prices would decline and volumes increase as non-inflationary prosperity increased.
Of course, a perfect balance would rarely be found, but one of the many failures in Keynesianism was the notion that governments could pile up debt to fight recession and could be relied upon to reduce debt in prosperous times. They have usually piled up the debt whether times were prosperous or not, as I lamented in this space last week. John Maynard Keynes was correct that it is appropriate to run deficits during recessions, but almost everything else he wrote was mistaken (including the flimsy canard that reparations after the First World War generated Nazism).
Canada should take the lead in restoring some value to currencies with a composite standard of measurement of currency value: One third the price of gold, one third the basic crude oil price and one third the cost of a representative consumer price index range of goods. (The gold standard alone would put too much power in the hands of mining engineers and precious metals speculators.) Some such yardstick as this would be adequately flexible, sufficiently broadly based to be impossible to manipulate, would be a discipline on currency, an immense confidence-builder, which other aspirant hard currency countries now addicted to sloppy fiscal habits would have to follow, and it would be advantageous to Canada as a country generously endowed with all the ingredients of the composite standard.
Nor should we be afraid to revive the joint public-private sector initiative. This was what built Canada, from the Canadian Pacific and (eventually) Canadian National Railways to atomic energy to the Trans-Canada pipeline. I have, at intervals, been one of those who advocated taking a joint public-private Canadian interest in Chrysler Corporation when it was financially vulnerable. The failure to do so has been an opportunity missed, though it is not too late for a Canadian-controlled automobile industry. It is, as many have observed, illogical for us to rush to divest a Canadian government-controlled oil company (PetroCanada), while acquiescing in a Chinese government-controlled one (Nexen). We have not thought this through, and we should.
And, for a combination of reasons, I think we should increase defence spending. It is the best stimulus, and the most successful form of adult education. It enhances both military and foreign-disaster relief capability, and if carried out intelligently, will raise national pride and morale. We also should involve the able-bodied unemployed in various forms of infrastructure and conservation projects, which military engineers could supervise at economic cost to the taxpayers, and it should be combined with enhanced professional and vocational training.
The federal government should get on with its $35-billion National Shipbuilding Strategy, whose cost it has obviously sharply underestimated. Canada has coasts on three oceans, and has a brilliant military tradition, having always fought with distinction, with almost all-volunteer forces, in ethically justifiable wars that our side won. We could reduce unemployment, build a serious shipyard and advanced defense industry, and become an alliance leader and looked-to country for emergency relief, instead of bumping along at about 60% of the level of military spending we promised to NATO.
The F-35, which has doubled in cost to $167-million per airplane, should be cut back. It is a metaphor for American defence extravagance (U.S. destroyers and submarines now cost $1.2-billion and $2.4-billion each). We should build our aviation industry and joint venture with lower-cost partners such as South Korea and Germany, while we reactivate our shipyards, starting with the construction of an aircraft carrier.
Canada has the sinews of an important country, but the habits of an American satellite. For our own and the world’s good, and with hostility to no one, (and certainly not the U.S.), we should grow into, but not above, our rightful status.
National Post
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/03/30/conrad-black-raising-canada-up-while-beating-inflation-down/
Republish Reprint
Conrad Black | 13/03/30 | Last Updated: 13/03/28 1:56 PM ET
More from Conrad Black
Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian PressTechnicians work on a hull at Halifax Shipyard in Halifax on March 7.
Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Email Comments More
Many readers have asked that I propose some solutions to the problems, outlined in this column last week, of chronic and almost constant inflation.
I did propose, as I have here and elsewhere before, that I think the budget deficit has to be reduced with taxes on elective spending, and the economy stimulated with reduced income taxes. Elective spending is anything that is entirely optional, such as restaurant meals, holiday travel, automobiles above a certain cost and most financial transactions — but not groceries, children’s or work clothes, gasoline or fuel needed for work or home.
Part of our economic problem throughout the West has been over-reliance on a service economy that does not really add value (such as most legal and consulting bills), and on consumer spending for quickly or instantly depreciating assets. You knew George Bush Sr. was on the political skids when his economic message at the beginning of 1992 exhorted Americans not to save or invest, but to spend. This impulse in the United States, as that country outsourced 60 million jobs while tacitly admitting 20 million unskilled, undocumented workers, has helped create an immense current account deficit. Unsophisticated manufacturing departed to low-cost countries, which then supplied the U.S. through Walmart and Target.
Related
Conrad Black: The economics of bubbles, in Cyprus and here at home
Our own budget will be balanced if we tax optional spending adequately to produce the necessary revenue — particularly if savings and investment are encouraged by realistic interest rates and minimal capital-gains taxes. While I sympathize completely with the motives for it, I think it was a mistake for this government to lower the GST-HST almost across the board rather than just on some categories of spending, while not cutting personal and corporate income taxes.
It is a myth of modern economics that the preferred condition is constant, moderate inflation. The ideal would be no inflation: That supply and demand would always be in balance and prices would decline and volumes increase as non-inflationary prosperity increased.
Of course, a perfect balance would rarely be found, but one of the many failures in Keynesianism was the notion that governments could pile up debt to fight recession and could be relied upon to reduce debt in prosperous times. They have usually piled up the debt whether times were prosperous or not, as I lamented in this space last week. John Maynard Keynes was correct that it is appropriate to run deficits during recessions, but almost everything else he wrote was mistaken (including the flimsy canard that reparations after the First World War generated Nazism).
Canada should take the lead in restoring some value to currencies with a composite standard of measurement of currency value: One third the price of gold, one third the basic crude oil price and one third the cost of a representative consumer price index range of goods. (The gold standard alone would put too much power in the hands of mining engineers and precious metals speculators.) Some such yardstick as this would be adequately flexible, sufficiently broadly based to be impossible to manipulate, would be a discipline on currency, an immense confidence-builder, which other aspirant hard currency countries now addicted to sloppy fiscal habits would have to follow, and it would be advantageous to Canada as a country generously endowed with all the ingredients of the composite standard.
Nor should we be afraid to revive the joint public-private sector initiative. This was what built Canada, from the Canadian Pacific and (eventually) Canadian National Railways to atomic energy to the Trans-Canada pipeline. I have, at intervals, been one of those who advocated taking a joint public-private Canadian interest in Chrysler Corporation when it was financially vulnerable. The failure to do so has been an opportunity missed, though it is not too late for a Canadian-controlled automobile industry. It is, as many have observed, illogical for us to rush to divest a Canadian government-controlled oil company (PetroCanada), while acquiescing in a Chinese government-controlled one (Nexen). We have not thought this through, and we should.
And, for a combination of reasons, I think we should increase defence spending. It is the best stimulus, and the most successful form of adult education. It enhances both military and foreign-disaster relief capability, and if carried out intelligently, will raise national pride and morale. We also should involve the able-bodied unemployed in various forms of infrastructure and conservation projects, which military engineers could supervise at economic cost to the taxpayers, and it should be combined with enhanced professional and vocational training.
The federal government should get on with its $35-billion National Shipbuilding Strategy, whose cost it has obviously sharply underestimated. Canada has coasts on three oceans, and has a brilliant military tradition, having always fought with distinction, with almost all-volunteer forces, in ethically justifiable wars that our side won. We could reduce unemployment, build a serious shipyard and advanced defense industry, and become an alliance leader and looked-to country for emergency relief, instead of bumping along at about 60% of the level of military spending we promised to NATO.
The F-35, which has doubled in cost to $167-million per airplane, should be cut back. It is a metaphor for American defence extravagance (U.S. destroyers and submarines now cost $1.2-billion and $2.4-billion each). We should build our aviation industry and joint venture with lower-cost partners such as South Korea and Germany, while we reactivate our shipyards, starting with the construction of an aircraft carrier.
Canada has the sinews of an important country, but the habits of an American satellite. For our own and the world’s good, and with hostility to no one, (and certainly not the U.S.), we should grow into, but not above, our rightful status.
National Post
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/03/30/conrad-black-raising-canada-up-while-beating-inflation-down/
Galvin's Shinpads
Vital Football Legend
That's one hell of a hard-on you got there!
D
Departed
Guest
LOL. Hadn't seen you around for a while so I threw out some chum. Actually I was hoping Innis would tear that article to shreds. Lots of holes in that one.
D
Departed
Guest
Don't know much about that Innis. Are they planning on privatizing the entire organization or parts of it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVjSvKNBEro
Conrad on HIGNFY embed please?
Fate of Hollinger
The Hollinger group of companies was effectively dismantled as a result of criminal and civil lawsuits in relation to sales of papers and IP to third parties, most alleging misrepresentation and some alleging false or deliberately misleading accounts having been presented. The costs incurred by Hollinger International through the investigation of Black and his associates climbed to over US $200 million, leading some observers, such as The Economist to suggest disproportionality of these expenses in relation to the allegations.[28] A significant portion of the sums paid by Hollinger International went to Richard Breeden, the lead investigator, who was paid approximately $100,000 per week.[19] Since Black was forced to resign from the board of Hollinger, many of Hollinger International’s assets ended up being sold at prices significantly lower than those contemplated by incomplete talks while Black was with the company.[29] In the early 2000s, Black had accurately anticipated the decline in profitability of print media assets and sought to divest those types of assets held by Hollinger before their value was irrevocably diminished. The main criminal sanction on Black not overturned is specifically one of misleading investors
Black was convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago on July 13, 2007 and sentenced to serve 6.5 years in federal prison and pay Hollinger $6.1 million, in addition to a fine of $125,000.
Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due (to) Hollinger International, and of other irregularities. The embezzlement occurred when the company sold certain publishing assets. For example, in 2000, in an arrangement that came to be known as the "Lerner Exchange," Black personally acquired Chicago's Lerner Newspapers and sold it to Hollinger.[41] He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice.[42]
The Supreme Court of the United States heard an appeal of his case on December 8, 2009[43] and rendered a decision in June 2010. Black's application for bail was rejected by both the Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court judge who sentenced him.[44]
On June 24, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the definition of Honest Services Fraud used in the trial judge's charge to the jury in Black's case was too broad In June 2010, "unconstitutionally vague", ruling the law could apply only to cases where bribes and kickbacks had changed hands and ordered the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to review three fraud convictions against Black in light of the Supreme Court's new definition. As ordered the Court reviewed Black's case and determined whether his fraud convictions stood or if there should be a new trial.[45] The Supreme Court upheld the jailed former media baron's obstruction-of-justice conviction, for which he was serving a concurrent 6½-year sentence.[46] Black's lawyers filed an application for bail pending the appeals court's review.[45] Prosecutors contested Black's bail request, arguing in court papers that Black's trial jury had proof that Black committed fraud.[47] The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals granted bail on July 19, 2010 under which Black was released was released pending retrial on a $2 million unsecured bond put up by conservative philanthropist Roger Hertog[48] and ordered to remain on bail in the continental United States until at least August 16, when his bail hearing was to resume,[49][48][50][51] and the date by which Black and the prosecution were ordered by the Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for that court's review of his case.[52][53]
Until July 21, 2010,[48] Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #18330-424, was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Low, Coleman, FL,[54] a part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex.[55][56][n 3]
Following his release, coincidentally on his 18th wedding anniversary, Black wrote a column for Canada's National Post on his time in prison. Black described America's inmates as an "ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead."[57] Black was to appear once again in a Chicago court on August 16 to provide full and detailed financial information to the judge, who would then consider his request to be allowed to return to Canada while on bail.[58] In spite of his professed desire to return to his former home in Canada, Black's legal representatives advised the court that they would not provide the requisite accounting and would thus not be interested in petitioning the court further on the matter. Although many have cited this refusal to disclose as more deception on the part of Black,[citation needed] it is possible that the voluminous amounts of information that would have been required for complete disclosure could not be compiled in time or that his wealth would be unlikely to persuade the court to extend his bail conditions. He was under no compulsion to make this disclosure as he had initiated the appeal for a bail variation of his own volition. His next court appearance, where he might reapply for permission to return to Canada was set for September 20, 2010.[59]
On October 28, 2010, the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two of the three mail fraud convictions. This left Black convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The court also ruled that he must be resentenced.[60] On December 17, 2010, Black lost an appeal as to fact and law on his remaining convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice. The three-person panel did not provide reasons. On May 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to grant Black leave to appeal (to it) his two remaining convictions without comment.[61]
The resentencing on the two remaining counts by the original trial judge occurred on June 24, 2011.[62] Black's lawyers recommended that he be sentenced to the 29 months he had already served while the prosecution argued for Black to complete his original 6½ year sentence. The probation officer's report recommended a sentence of between 33 and 41 months.[63] At the hearing, Judge St. Eve resentenced Black to a reduced term of 42 months and a fine of $125,000, returning him to prison on September 6, 2011[38] to serve the remaining 13 months of his sentence.[39]
On June 30, 2011, Black published an article for the National Review Online that provided his scathing view of the legal case, detailing it as a miscarriage of justice and an "unaccountable and often lawless prosecution."[64]
Seth Lipsky, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that ran on June 28, 2011, called the verdict against Black "head-scratching," noting that Black was found not guilty of the most serious charges brought against him. Lipsky also raised the issue of why Black was denied a retrial by jury as to whether he had committed pecuniary fraud after the Supreme Court unanimously found that Judge St. Eve's instructions to the jury were "incorrect," which led to two of the three fraud counts ultimately being vacated. In the end, the fraud conviction was allowed to stand and the count of obstruction. [65]
Black did not return to Coleman Federal Correctional Facility because two female guards at Coleman reported they feared for their safety if Black returned. Instead he was imprisoned on September 6, 2011 at the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami.[66] He was released from prison on May 4, 2012. Although he waived Canadian citizenship in 2001 in order to receive a British peerage, he has expressed desire to live in Canada after his prison term completed.[67] He was granted a one-year temporary resident permit to live in Canada in March 2012 when he was still serving his sentence. Critics claimed that Black received special treatment from the Canadian government but Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, denied any political influence.[68] Upon his release from the prison, Black was immediately picked up by the U.S. Immigration officials and escorted to the Miami International Airport. He arrived at Toronto on the same afternoon and returned to his home for the first time in nearly five years.[69] He has been barred from entering the United States for 30 years.[70]
On June 5, 2012 lawyers for Black moved that the last remaining counts of conviction be vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct and his claim that he had been denied the right to have the defense counsel of his choice. Black's motion was dismissed on February 19, 2013 along with his request for an evidentitary hearing.[71]
SEC ruling
In October 2012, a US federal judge fined Black $6.1 million (in penalties) for securities law violations during his chairmanship of Hollinger International. The fine is related to a 2008 judgement against Black by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which also banned Black from being a director of a publicly traded US company. The penalty ruling was delayed until appeals in Black's criminal case had been completed.[70]
Peerage controversy and citizenship
Main article: Black v. Chrétien
In 2001, British Prime Minister Tony Blair advised Queen Elizabeth II to confer on Black the dignity of a life peerage with the title of Baron Black[n 4][72] Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien gave the opinion to his government's nationality department that a Canadian citizen should not receive a British titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held both Canadian and British citizenship. After the Federal Court of Canada ruled against Black in his suit against Chrétien, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, remaining a citizen of the UK. In a May 2012 interview with Peter Mansbridge, Black said he will consider applying for Canadian citizenship “within a year or two” when he hoped the matter would no longer be controversial and he could “make an application like any other person who has been a temporary resident.”[73] The decision to grant or reject his application would be at the discretion of the federal Cabinet.[74] He has been on Leave of Absence as a peer following release in May 2012.[75]
Order of Canada
Conrad on HIGNFY embed please?
Fate of Hollinger
The Hollinger group of companies was effectively dismantled as a result of criminal and civil lawsuits in relation to sales of papers and IP to third parties, most alleging misrepresentation and some alleging false or deliberately misleading accounts having been presented. The costs incurred by Hollinger International through the investigation of Black and his associates climbed to over US $200 million, leading some observers, such as The Economist to suggest disproportionality of these expenses in relation to the allegations.[28] A significant portion of the sums paid by Hollinger International went to Richard Breeden, the lead investigator, who was paid approximately $100,000 per week.[19] Since Black was forced to resign from the board of Hollinger, many of Hollinger International’s assets ended up being sold at prices significantly lower than those contemplated by incomplete talks while Black was with the company.[29] In the early 2000s, Black had accurately anticipated the decline in profitability of print media assets and sought to divest those types of assets held by Hollinger before their value was irrevocably diminished. The main criminal sanction on Black not overturned is specifically one of misleading investors
Black was convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago on July 13, 2007 and sentenced to serve 6.5 years in federal prison and pay Hollinger $6.1 million, in addition to a fine of $125,000.
Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due (to) Hollinger International, and of other irregularities. The embezzlement occurred when the company sold certain publishing assets. For example, in 2000, in an arrangement that came to be known as the "Lerner Exchange," Black personally acquired Chicago's Lerner Newspapers and sold it to Hollinger.[41] He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice.[42]
The Supreme Court of the United States heard an appeal of his case on December 8, 2009[43] and rendered a decision in June 2010. Black's application for bail was rejected by both the Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court judge who sentenced him.[44]
On June 24, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the definition of Honest Services Fraud used in the trial judge's charge to the jury in Black's case was too broad In June 2010, "unconstitutionally vague", ruling the law could apply only to cases where bribes and kickbacks had changed hands and ordered the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to review three fraud convictions against Black in light of the Supreme Court's new definition. As ordered the Court reviewed Black's case and determined whether his fraud convictions stood or if there should be a new trial.[45] The Supreme Court upheld the jailed former media baron's obstruction-of-justice conviction, for which he was serving a concurrent 6½-year sentence.[46] Black's lawyers filed an application for bail pending the appeals court's review.[45] Prosecutors contested Black's bail request, arguing in court papers that Black's trial jury had proof that Black committed fraud.[47] The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals granted bail on July 19, 2010 under which Black was released was released pending retrial on a $2 million unsecured bond put up by conservative philanthropist Roger Hertog[48] and ordered to remain on bail in the continental United States until at least August 16, when his bail hearing was to resume,[49][48][50][51] and the date by which Black and the prosecution were ordered by the Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for that court's review of his case.[52][53]
Until July 21, 2010,[48] Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #18330-424, was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Low, Coleman, FL,[54] a part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex.[55][56][n 3]
Following his release, coincidentally on his 18th wedding anniversary, Black wrote a column for Canada's National Post on his time in prison. Black described America's inmates as an "ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead."[57] Black was to appear once again in a Chicago court on August 16 to provide full and detailed financial information to the judge, who would then consider his request to be allowed to return to Canada while on bail.[58] In spite of his professed desire to return to his former home in Canada, Black's legal representatives advised the court that they would not provide the requisite accounting and would thus not be interested in petitioning the court further on the matter. Although many have cited this refusal to disclose as more deception on the part of Black,[citation needed] it is possible that the voluminous amounts of information that would have been required for complete disclosure could not be compiled in time or that his wealth would be unlikely to persuade the court to extend his bail conditions. He was under no compulsion to make this disclosure as he had initiated the appeal for a bail variation of his own volition. His next court appearance, where he might reapply for permission to return to Canada was set for September 20, 2010.[59]
On October 28, 2010, the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two of the three mail fraud convictions. This left Black convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The court also ruled that he must be resentenced.[60] On December 17, 2010, Black lost an appeal as to fact and law on his remaining convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice. The three-person panel did not provide reasons. On May 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to grant Black leave to appeal (to it) his two remaining convictions without comment.[61]
The resentencing on the two remaining counts by the original trial judge occurred on June 24, 2011.[62] Black's lawyers recommended that he be sentenced to the 29 months he had already served while the prosecution argued for Black to complete his original 6½ year sentence. The probation officer's report recommended a sentence of between 33 and 41 months.[63] At the hearing, Judge St. Eve resentenced Black to a reduced term of 42 months and a fine of $125,000, returning him to prison on September 6, 2011[38] to serve the remaining 13 months of his sentence.[39]
On June 30, 2011, Black published an article for the National Review Online that provided his scathing view of the legal case, detailing it as a miscarriage of justice and an "unaccountable and often lawless prosecution."[64]
Seth Lipsky, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that ran on June 28, 2011, called the verdict against Black "head-scratching," noting that Black was found not guilty of the most serious charges brought against him. Lipsky also raised the issue of why Black was denied a retrial by jury as to whether he had committed pecuniary fraud after the Supreme Court unanimously found that Judge St. Eve's instructions to the jury were "incorrect," which led to two of the three fraud counts ultimately being vacated. In the end, the fraud conviction was allowed to stand and the count of obstruction. [65]
Black did not return to Coleman Federal Correctional Facility because two female guards at Coleman reported they feared for their safety if Black returned. Instead he was imprisoned on September 6, 2011 at the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami.[66] He was released from prison on May 4, 2012. Although he waived Canadian citizenship in 2001 in order to receive a British peerage, he has expressed desire to live in Canada after his prison term completed.[67] He was granted a one-year temporary resident permit to live in Canada in March 2012 when he was still serving his sentence. Critics claimed that Black received special treatment from the Canadian government but Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, denied any political influence.[68] Upon his release from the prison, Black was immediately picked up by the U.S. Immigration officials and escorted to the Miami International Airport. He arrived at Toronto on the same afternoon and returned to his home for the first time in nearly five years.[69] He has been barred from entering the United States for 30 years.[70]
On June 5, 2012 lawyers for Black moved that the last remaining counts of conviction be vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct and his claim that he had been denied the right to have the defense counsel of his choice. Black's motion was dismissed on February 19, 2013 along with his request for an evidentitary hearing.[71]
SEC ruling
In October 2012, a US federal judge fined Black $6.1 million (in penalties) for securities law violations during his chairmanship of Hollinger International. The fine is related to a 2008 judgement against Black by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which also banned Black from being a director of a publicly traded US company. The penalty ruling was delayed until appeals in Black's criminal case had been completed.[70]
Peerage controversy and citizenship
Main article: Black v. Chrétien
In 2001, British Prime Minister Tony Blair advised Queen Elizabeth II to confer on Black the dignity of a life peerage with the title of Baron Black[n 4][72] Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien gave the opinion to his government's nationality department that a Canadian citizen should not receive a British titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held both Canadian and British citizenship. After the Federal Court of Canada ruled against Black in his suit against Chrétien, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, remaining a citizen of the UK. In a May 2012 interview with Peter Mansbridge, Black said he will consider applying for Canadian citizenship “within a year or two” when he hoped the matter would no longer be controversial and he could “make an application like any other person who has been a temporary resident.”[73] The decision to grant or reject his application would be at the discretion of the federal Cabinet.[74] He has been on Leave of Absence as a peer following release in May 2012.[75]
Order of Canada
Galvin's Shinpads
Vital Football Legend
[youtube=UxL7iOT5_Qc]
