Jury Deliberates in Black Fraud Trial

The jury has begun deliberating in the fraud and racketeeting trial of former media mogul Conrad Black.^[1] The panel has been in court for three months of testimony, more than 40 witnesses about 30 hours of closing statements and the presentation of hundreds of documents in the trial of Black and three other Hollinger executives.^[2]

The jury will be considering all 43 of the charges, which include mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and tax fraud; there are 13 counts against Black, 11 against each of former Hollinger International executives Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson and eight against former company lawyer Mark Kipnis.^[3]

The key issue in this case rests on non-compete payments from sales of Hollinger newspapers which were made in exchange for promises not to compete in the same markets where the papers circulated.^[4] Such agreements are not unusual in the publishing industry, but prosecutors say the money should have gone to Hollinger's shareholders, not the executives.^[5]

As they deliberate, the mostly female jury was instructed that it must decide whether prosecutors have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Black and the others intentionally lied to enrich themselves at the expense of Hollinger International shareholders.^[6]

Obstruction of Justice
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1519, any person who falsifies documents with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation of any matter within the jurisdiction of a department of the United State can be fined, imprisoned for 20 years, or both.

Racketeering
Racketeering is generally covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1951 wherein it states that interference with commerce by threats or violence is a crime that occurs when a person, in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Racketeering charges should be differentiated from RICO charges. Racketeering is the interference of commerce through threats of violence.^[7] RICO charges,^[8] on the other hand, concern organized crime and systematic racketeering activity infiltration into legitimate organizations. However, because the statutes are written loosely enough to be applied to drug traffickers, it would not surprise us to find out that the individuals in question in this case had been charged under the RICO statutes, rather than solely under the racketeering statutes.

---

^[1] Romina Maurino, In the jury’s hands, The Canadian Press, June 28, 2007, available at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/851159.html (last visited June 28, 2007)
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.; AP Staff, A look at the Conrad Black trial, Associated Press Newswire, June 27, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] See 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951 et seq.; see also Id. § 1961(a) (“racketeering activity” defined).
^[8] Id. §§ 1961 et seq.