18/11/2005

Lord Black denies US fraud charges

Conrad Black has denied federal fraud charges brought in the US alleging that he and three other executives diverted $84m of the proceeds from a $2.1bn sale of newspaper assets in Canada.

The charges involving the handling of the sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers and the alleged abuse of "corporate perks" were filed against Lord Black and three other former top executives of his global publishing empire, Hollinger International.

Lord Black, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Hollinger International has issued a statement via his lawyers saying that he is "innocent without qualification" on all the charges set out in the US federal indictment.

The 11-count indictment alleges two new fraud schemes in addition to those set out in an indictment in August that the defendants fraudulently diverted more than $32 million from the US-based Hollinger newspaper holding company through complex "self-dealing" transactions.

These alleged fraud schemes involved Hollinger International, a US holding company based in Chicago that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Hollinger Inc, a Canadian holding company based in Toronto that is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Lord Black left Hollinger International's board in 2003, the company has since brought a case against him.

A federal arrest warrant has been issued against Lord Black and the three co-defendants. It is understood that all four will be allowed to make a voluntary appearance before a federal court in Chicago where he indictments were filed.

(SP)

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