Newspaper barons Lord Conrad Black and his long-time associate David Radler led a "kleptocracy" at Hollinger International Inc., says a 400-page report prepared by an independent committee of directors of that company. The report was filed yesterday with a court in Illinois and made public today through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Black and his colleagues are accused of pilfering more than $400-million (U.S.) or more than 95 per cent of all profits earned at Hollinger International over a period of several years.
Black, through his holding company Ravelston (see below) says the claims are "exaggerated" and further:
""The report is full of so many factual and tainting misrepresentations and inaccuracies that it is not practical to address them in their entirety here.  These issues will ultimately be resolved in courts of justice where the facts and the evidence will exonerate the men and women who are being attacked in this report." (I can find no link yet to the full release but this graf is essentially the nut of it).
My colleagues at The Globe and Mail have started the coverage online and there is more from my CTV colleagues.
The things you need to know for this story:
Conrad Black has the controlling interest in Ravelston, a privately-held Canadian firm.
Ravelston is the controlling shareholder of Hollinger Inc., a Toronto-based holding company.
Hollinger Inc. is the controlling shareholder of Hollinger International Inc., the Chicago-based company which once owned the Daily Telegraph and now owns the Jerusalem Post, the Chicago Sun-Times and other papers.
CTV, incidentally, has commissioned a movie about Black..