TORONTO - The former district attorney who put Conrad Black behind bars for cheating shareholders said Thursday that prosecutors are highly likely to oppose the disgraced media mogul's request to U.S. President George W. Bush to commute his sentence.
Now in private practice, Eric Sussman told The Canadian Press that the prosecuting office in Chicago where Black was tried believes, if anything, he got off lightly with a 6 1/2-year prison term.
"The Chicago office spent the time and the resources in this case because they believed . . . that Mr. Black's conduct was criminal and he deserved to go to prison for it for at least the length of time that he was sentenced," Sussman said.
"I'm not aware of anything that happened in the last six or eight months that would have changed that view on behalf of the attorney's office or for that matter the Dept. of Justice."
Black, 64, was convicted last year of a $6.1-million fraud and obstruction of justice related to his eight-year spell as head of Hollinger International Inc., from which he was fired in 2003.
An internal probe found he and other executives got more than $32 million in unauthorized payments.
He is currently serving his sentence in Florida following an unsuccessful appeal.
In Washington, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which is part of the U.S. Justice Dept., confirmed Black had requested leniency rather than an outright presidential pardon.
"He's requested commutation of sentence," said Laura Sweeney.
However, she said she could not comment on details of the request, which was filed Nov. 10.
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1 comment:
You can't blame the man for trying look it worked for Scooter. If Black has money to give Bush or Cheney he just might let it happen. GREED IS GOOD and it just might pay his way out of jail. Now Bush will have alot of criminals Republicans doing the same. But there's always the one you turned down that can do you in. With so many people being part of the Bush Administration crime wave this should be interesting.
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