US appeals court grants bail to ex-media baron Conrad Black pending appeal of fraud conviction
By APMonday, July 19, 2010
Court grants bail to jailed ex-press baron Black
CHICAGO — A federal appeals court has granted bail to jailed former media baron Conrad Black pending an appeal of his fraud conviction.
Black’s lawyers were granted the motion for bail Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The British baron and three other former executives from the Hollinger International media empire were convicted in July 2007 of swindling the company’s shareholders out of $6.1 million.
But 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 has served more than two years of a 6 1/2-year sentence. A call to his attorney was not immediately returned Monday.
