Conrad Black

(Newser) - Convicted felon Conrad Black has skipped time in the exercise yard to pen a review from prison of the new biography of his old rival Rupert Murdoch. Black complains that biographer Michael Wolff is at once too deferential and takes "extreme psychological liberties" in The Man Who Owns the News. In reality, Murdoch “is quite pleasant,” Black writes for the Daily Beast, “though he is also one of the very few completely ruthless and totally cynical people I have known.” More »

(Newser) - Onetime media mogul Conrad Black is seeking clemency from President Bush in hopes that his 6½-year jail sentence will be commuted, the CBC reports. Black, the former chair of newspaper firm Hollinger International, was convicted on fraud and obstruction of justice charges in 2007 for channeling $6 million from his company. No word from the Bush camp on the prospects of Black's release. More »

(Newser) - The biography Nixonland is a hatchet job on an “excellent president,” media mogul Conrad Black (from behind bars) writes in the New York Sun , picking apart author Rick Perlstein’s slights—and reminding of the profound accomplishments of the 37th president. Beyond crediting Nixon with coarsening the political discourse permanently, Perlstein revels in his “manic, corrupt, rat cunning,” plus, Black notes, “cynicism, opportunism and chicanery.” More »

(Newser) - Lawyers for former newspaper mogul Conrad Black appealed his 6½-year prison term for fraud today, arguing that the jury received bad instructions and that the evidence failed to prove he had knowledge of shady dealings, reports Canada's National Post . Black was convicted of bilking about $6 million from Hollinger International, his former Chicago-based newspaper publishing company. He began serving his sentence at a Florida prison last week. More »

(Newser) - Ex-newspaper mogul Conrad Black arrived at a Florida prison today to start his 6-and-1/2 year term for fraud and obstruction of justice, Reuters reports. He stayed mum as his wife drove him in, but is appealing the ruling that he helped bilk his former company of $6.1 million. "My book about this outrage is almost ready, so if I must go, I will not be going quietly," he wrote in a recent email. More »

(Newser) - Former media tycoon Conrad Black, convicted of swindling millions from his newspaper empire, will be behind bars by Monday night, reports the Chicago Sun-Tribune . A Chicago court ruled that he couldn't remain free on bail while awaiting a decision on his appeal. Black has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for obstruction of justice and defrauding shareholders of Hollinger International, once the third-largest publisher of English-language newspapers in the world. More »

(Newser) - More federal judges are giving themselves wiggle room when it comes to once-strict sentencing guidelines, as evidenced by three recent high-profile court cases. The three—involving Conrad Black, Michael Vick, and a crack cocaine case that made it to the Supreme Court—illustrate how a spate of high-court rulings have given judges more leeway, the Chicago Tribune reports. More »

(Newser) - Onetime newspaper magnate Conrad Black was sentenced today in Chicago to 78 months in prison for fraud and impeding an investigation. He was also ordered to forfeit $6.1 million and fined $125,000. Prosecutors had pressed for a harsher sentence, but the judge decided to use more lenient sentencing guidelines from 2000, the Globe and Mail reports. More »