Steven Skurka's latest from Chicago:
Speaking of people dedicated to their work, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald observed some of the court proceedeings this morning. He spent almost the entire time scribbling notes on an unrelated matter and seemed to be an uninterested spectator. During the break, he was chuckling with the lead prosecutor in the case, Eric Sussman. I doubt they were amused by the testimony in the courtroom. Despite some 35 hours and five separate meetings preparing their witness, Creasy was evasive and appeared selectively forgetful during cross-examination. I learned that the defence began to call him “Queezy”. On some of the SEC documents he was described as the principle accounting officer but Creasy’s better title would have been principle unaccountable officer. For someone who acknowledged his primary role at Hollinger was the co-ordination of financial reporting, he assumed very liittle responsibility when he testified.
Today was a groundbreaking day at the Conrad Black trial. The jury was exposed to the incontrovertible fact that the non-compete payments to Conrad Black and certain executives were disclosed to lawyers from the leading law firm of Tory’s, a team of auditors from an international accounting firm KPMG, and an audit committe at Hollinger International that included Richard Burt, James Thompson (the chair), and Josee-Marie Kravis. The non-compete payments that were plainly disclosed in various public filings and financial statements included $80 million advanced in the CanWest sale and over $15 million in connection with the sales of American community newspapers in 2000. When Patrick Tuite, Jack Boultbee’s attorney, suggested that former governor Thompson was a very tall individual (and therefore less easily intimidated), the diminutive trial judge interrupted and jokingly said: “Don’t start talking about height.” In contrast to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the non-competes promised by the prosecution in its opening, the payments were disclosed and approved. Following a Hollinger Inc. audit committe meeting held on March 2, 2002, a KPMG Report noted that “all such [non-compete] payments had been approved by an independent committee of the Board of Hollinger International and the Auditors had reviewed the relevant Minutes of the independent committee and were satisfied.”
Conrad Black appreciated that the defence was scoring points. At one point, he glanced back and smiled at his daughter who grinned broadly. Document after document was shown to the jury with the eleven magic words: “The company’s independent directors have approved the terms of these payments.” This is the heart of the defence of Conrad Black and next week the parade of outside professionals begins with the lawyers from Tory’s (Darren Sukonick and Beth DeMerchant) and the New York law firm of Cravath set to testify.
So far as I can tell, the only things the prosecution has been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt are that Conrad Black was a shrewd businessman who played by the rules and made shareholders a lot of money.
UPDATE: Mark Steyn has the straight facts on Black's much-discussed "vacation" to Bora Bora.
