Jailed former press magnate Conrad Black seeks bail in wake of Supreme Court ruling

Ex-press magnate Black seeks bail pending appeal

CHICAGO — Jailed former newspaper magnate Conrad Black is seeking bail now that the U.S. Supreme Court has kicked his 2007 fraud conviction back to a lower court.

Black’s lawyers filed the motion Tuesday in Chicago, where he was convicted in federal court of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

Last month, the Supreme Court weakened the “honest services” law that was central to Black’s fraud conviction, and the justices left it up to a lower court to decide whether the conviction should be overturned. Black’s lawyers argue that he should be released pending that decision.

“At nearly 66 years of age, he has a particularly strong interest in bringing finality to these proceedings,” the motion said. “The additional time he spends in prison between now and a favorable ruling can never be returned to him.”

The man who received the British title Lord Black of Crossharbour, and three other former Hollinger International executives were convicted in July 2007 of swindling the company’s shareholders out of $6.1 million.

Black was also convicted of obstruction after jurors saw a video of him carrying boxes of documents out of his offices, loading them into his car and driving off with them. The documents were sought by government investigators.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors had said Black should remain in prison because the high court’s decision wouldn’t affect the obstruction of justice count. The U.S. Attorney’s office had no comment Wednesday on Black’s motion for bail.

Black has served more than two years of a 6 1/2-year sentence. His lawyers say the sentencing range for the obstruction of justice count could be as low as 15 months to 21 months.

Hollinger International once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London, The Jerusalem Post and hundreds of community papers in the U.S. and Canada.