This should be a very interesting court case re Conrad Black

[bubblesby2002]

Black goes into battle to save sale of 'Telegraph' to the Barclays
By Saeed Shah
16 February 2004


Conrad Black, the Conservative peer under investigation by US financial regulators, will appear in court this week to defend his right to dictate the destiny of Hollinger International and its Telegraph newspaper titles, in what will be one of the most sensational legal hearings in recent US corporate history.

more at http://news.independent.co.uk/business

Conrad has a real way with words, and he will fight tooth and nail to get what he wants.

[susu369]

1. I'm with you - following this story closely

Any story with the quote that Kissinger and Perle are not returning telephone calls has my attention. :-)

Two more interesting articles below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/16/business/media/16conrad.html?pagewanted=all

A 'Yes, Lord Black' Board Says 'No'
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT

Whatever the outcome of the Delaware Chancery Court trial that begins Wednesday in the dispute between Hollinger International, the newspaper company, and its former chairman, Conrad M. Black, there can be no disputing this: In recent years the board gave Lord Black considerable latitude in managing and intermingling the company's business affairs with his own.
--snip-

Hollinger International's board has distanced itself from Lord Black since he resigned as chief executive last fall in response to investors' increasingly tough questions about certain payments he and other top officers received.

In the last year, one director has left. Three new ones, who are not named in shareholder suits, have arrived. Three other directors - Lord Black; his wife, Barbara Amiel Black; and the vice chairman, Daniel W. Colson - have been held at arm's length from the board's efforts to investigate problems and consider offers for the company.

And yet, the core of the company's 11-member board consists of directors who were in place before the rupture with Lord Black last year. These include two longtime directors and friends of Lord Black, Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Richard N. Perle, the former head of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, who were members of an informal group of international advisers to Hollinger that met periodically during the 1990's.

Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Perle have not returned telephone calls in recent days seeking comment. And a spokesman for Hollinger International said that board members would not comment. Lord Black also declined to comment for this article.
-snip-

BLACK SUIT AGAINST HOLLINGER DIRECTORS

CONRAD Black, the ousted chairman of Hollinger International, has sued Hollinger chief executive Gordon Paris, adviser Richard Breeden and four board members for $C850 million ($817 million), saying they defamed him.

-snip-

He said in the suit that Mr Paris and the others engaged in a "conspiracy" to gain control of the company, which publishes London's Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times.

"The defendants sought to destroy Black personally, professionally and financially and to transform him from a respected owner of a successful media chain into a loathsome laughing stock," the suit claimed.

Thomas Kavaler, a lawyer for Mr Breeden, said there was "no merit to any of these ridiculous claims".

Mr Breeden, a former US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, was hired last year to advise a board committee investigating the charges of self-dealing. Lord Black's suit also named Mr Breeden's consulting firm, Breeden & Co.

"If Mr Black thinks that by bringing baseless litigation he can intimidate Richard Breeden and deter him from fulfilling his duties as special counsel to the committee, he has seriously misjudged Mr Breeden," Mr Kavaler said.
-snip-

full story:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,8692912,00.html