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傳媒巨子康拉德·布萊剋演技高超。這位63歲、加拿大最富影響力和傳奇色彩的富豪至今已扮演了許多角色——被學校開除的學生、記者、激進的改革者、歷史傳記作傢、拿破侖研究權威、貴族、媒體巨頭以及生活奢侈的社交名流。
最近，他又將飾演了一個新角色——階下囚。
7月13日，美國芝加哥聯邦地區法院最終判定布萊剋３項財務欺詐指控罪名和一項妨礙司法罪名成立，這位與默多剋齊名的報業巨頭將可能面臨最高35年的監禁。除此之外，他亦須支付高達百萬美元的罰款。刑期將在11月30日宣判，布萊剋的律師團表明會上訴。
英國《每日郵報》政治編輯瓊斯形容：“作為曾與他共事的人……這是極大的悲劇，他曾經營一份好報章、厚待下屬，我們卻要親眼看他逐漸墮落。”
買賣報紙的遊戲高手
康拉德·布萊剋在世界傳媒業曾經叱咤風雲。他１９４４年出生於加拿大富豪之庭，從收購一傢小報幹起。他的大學成績單一塌鬍塗，還因為涉嫌偷竊和出售試卷而被加拿大學院開除過。
1978年，33歲的布萊剋收購了加拿大的阿格斯公司，為打造他的傳媒帝國奠定了基礎。他在極短的時間內賣掉了公司旗下的超市業務，將阿格斯轉變為一傢報業集團，就是後來的霍林格國際。
1985年，布萊剋收購了英國老牌報紙《每日電訊報》５１％的股權，他的傳媒業務從此面貌一新。《每日電訊報》的銷量曾高居英國高尚日報之首，但上世紀70年代由於英國經濟不景氣陷入虧損。布萊剋收購《每日電訊報》之後，短短兩年內就令這傢報紙扭虧為盈。有傳媒評論稱，布萊剋“以有史以來最小的鈎，釣到了有史以來最大的魚”。
１９８９年他又收購了資不抵債的《耶路撒冷郵報》，將其徹底改組，三年後這張報紙就開始盈利。１９９４年他收購瀕臨倒閉的《芝加哥太陽時報》，兩年後又轉為盈利。由此，業內稱布萊剋為“能把虧損報紙改造成賺錢機器的大師”。
作為霍林格國際的董事長和首席執行官的布萊剋就這樣擴張他的傳媒帝國，最終成為世界第三大報業集團，擁有大小６００余家報刊。英國《每日電訊報》、以色列《耶路撒冷郵報》和美國《芝加哥太陽時報》等著名報紙均在其名下，公司年利潤達２０億美元。
在此期間，布萊剋與其第一任妻子離婚，娶了頗具知名度的專欄作傢芭芭拉·安密爾。與安密爾在肯辛頓區一座宅邸安傢後，布萊剋進入一個新的社交圈，他與皇室成員和政治傢交往，並組建了一個董事會。美國前國務卿基辛格和前國務部副部長理查德·佩裏都是這個董事會的成員。傳媒曾經如此形容霍林格國際的董事局會議：“董事會備有美酒佳餚，而獨立董事幾乎從來不問業務問題，布萊剋則像國王一樣上朝。”
中飽私囊，走嚮沉淪
布萊剋的耀眼光環２００３年起開始消退，他的人生也步入轉折。
霍林格國際公司２００３年１１月進行內部審計時發現，管理層存在秘密轉移資金問題，布萊剋巨額收入來源不明。在股東的批評聲浪中，布萊剋辭去了霍林格國際公司董事長的職務。
布萊剋在２００５年底遭到正式起訴，檢方指控布萊剋與其他３名前高管涉嫌在出售公司報紙交易中不法牟利８４００萬美元，而這些收益原應交給公司股東。當時他在接受采訪時說，所有指控都是“不真實的”和“沒有根據的”。
被判定成立的三項欺詐指控中，布萊剋均利用出售公司旗下的報紙中飽私囊。他串通公司高層，將一些報紙賣給企業內部的子公司，同時簽訂所謂“非競爭協議”，要求子公司支付“非競爭費”，隨後就把這筆錢收入自己腰包。
簽訂“非競爭協議”是不同公司間買賣報紙時的常用手段，是指買方向賣方支付一定費用，賣方則承諾不再與其售出的這份報紙競爭。
布萊剋及同夥用這種方式共騙得３２０萬英鎊（約合649.6萬美元），布萊剋獲利１７０萬英鎊（約合345.1萬美元），他的律師認為這一數字應為１４０萬英鎊（約合284.2萬美元）。
此外，布萊剋曾來到他在加拿大多倫多的辦公室，把一些文件取走，企圖躲避司法調查，不料被閉路電視攝像頭拍下，因此被判妨礙司法罪。
《公民凱恩》的最新翻版
１３日裁决前，布萊剋被指控罪名共有１３項，陪審團用１２天的時間聽取了控辯雙方的陳詞和辯論。
媒體也對布萊剋受審一事給予極大關註。法新社報道說，當天前往法院采訪的記者超過１００人，分別來自加拿大、英國、愛爾蘭和美國，其中許多記者供職的媒體曾被布萊剋領導。
《每日電訊報》評論說，歷時４個月的庭審展現在人們面前的是一出關於貪婪、虛榮、欺騙和盛極而衰的人間戲劇，幾乎是電影《公民凱恩》的最新翻版。
當陪審團主席判定第一項罪名成立時，布萊剋低下了頭，面色發白，但他很快又端坐身軀，表現出沉着鎮靜的模樣，他沒有看坐在他身後旁聽席第一排神情凝重的女兒和妻子，衹是遞給妻子一張紙條。
他所涉嫌的每項欺詐罪最高可判刑５年，而妨礙司法罪最高可判２０年。法官定於今年１１月３０日宣佈最終量刑結果。儘管洗脫了13項指控(其中包括最為嚴重的敲詐勒索罪)中的9項，但布萊剋仍面臨最長達35年的監禁，其大部分財産——包括他在棕櫚海灘的傢——將被沒收。
“我們準備上訴，”布萊剋的律師愛德華·格林斯潘表示，“他當時面臨１３項指控，現在所有關鍵的指控都沒成立。我們認為，刑期應短得多。”
英國《每日郵報》政治編輯瓊斯形容：“作為曾與他共事的人……這是極大的悲劇，他曾經營一份好報章、厚待下屬，我們卻要親眼看他逐漸墮落。”
告別極盡奢靡生活
布萊剋生活極盡豪奢，遊走於政客、明星等社會名流之間。美國前國務卿亨利·基辛格、前國防部官員理查·佩裏都是霍林格公司董事。他是英國前首相瑪格麗特·撒切爾夫人的好友，於２００１年加入英國國籍，被封為勳爵，躋身英國上議院。
布萊剋在多倫多、紐約、倫敦、佛羅裏達的黃金地段均擁有多處豪宅，配備“勞斯萊斯”等豪華轎車。他的紐約豪宅中不僅有精美瓷器、大理石雕和名貴地毯，甚至還有拿破侖入侵俄國時使用過的瓷杯。
路透社報道說，布萊剋在倫敦、紐約和佛羅裏達檢方稱，布萊剋經常在自己傢中大搞名流派對，而費用往往由公司來“埋單”。檢方說，布萊剋為妻子舉辦生日宴會就花費３萬英鎊（約合6.09萬美元），他們隨後還乘坐公司飛機前往法屬波利尼西亞度假，而這些花銷多由公司公款支付。
“他經營公司完全是為了個人利益，而對股東的態度則像路易十六一樣。”美國證券交易委員會前法律顧問羅斯·艾伯特告訴法新社記者。
美國司法專傢指出，平日喜愛貴價藝術品、奢華派對、出入乘坐私人飛機，連毛巾也要經消毒加熱纔使用的布萊剋一旦入獄，未來數十年將要與毒販等黑道人物為伍，擠在監倉吃大鍋飯。無論他被判入哪個監獄，他都會被脫衣檢查、打指紋、沒收私人物品，僅可保留手錶和結婚指環。
作為非美國公民，若懲教部門認為他有逃獄風險，他將會被安排入住中度設防監獄，在有刺鐵絲網內被獄卒嚴密看守，並被要求協助清潔、煮食，掙取每小時少於1美元的酬勞。
Before the regulatory investigation that led to his conviction, Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc. Through affiliates, the company published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.
Early life and family
Conrad Black was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a wealthy family originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, George Montegu Black, Jr., C.A., was the president of Canadian Breweries Limited, an international brewing conglomerate that had earlier absorbed Winnipeg Breweries (founded by George Black Sr.). Conrad Black's mother was the former Jean Elizabeth Riley, a daughter of Conrad Stephenson Riley, whose father founded the Great-West Life Assurance Company, and a great-granddaughter of an early co-owner of the Daily Telegraph.
Biographer George Toombs said of Black's motivations: "he was born into a very large family of athletic, handsome people. He wasn't particularly athletic or handsome like they were, so he developed a different skill – wordplay, which he practiced a lot with his father."
Education
Black was first educated at Upper Canada College (UCC), during which time, at age 8, he purchased shares in General Motors. Six years later, according to Tom Bower's biography Dancing on the Edge, he was expelled from UCC for selling stolen exam papers. He then attended Trinity College School where he lasted less than a year, being expelled for insubordinate behaviour. Black eventually graduated from a small, now defunct, private school in Toronto called Thornton Hall, continuing on to post-secondary education at Carleton University (History, 1965). For a time, he attended Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School of York University; however, his studies ended after he failed his first year exams. He completed a law degree at Université Laval (Law, 1970), and in 1973 completed a Master of Arts degree in history at McGill University. Black's thesis, later published as a biography, was on Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis.
Marriage
Conrad Black's first marriage was in 1978 to Joanna Hishon of Montreal, who worked as a secretary in his brother Montegu's brokerage office. The couple had two sons and a daughter. The couple separated in 1991. Their divorce was finalized in 1992; the same year Black married Watford-born journalist Barbara Amiel. Black flattered Amiel, describing her variously as "beautiful, brilliant, ideologically a robust spirit" and "chic, humorous and preternaturally sexy". Courtroom evidence revealed that the couple exchanged over 11,000 emails.
Religion
"My family," Black wrote in 2009, "was divided between atheism and agnosticism, and I followed rather unthinkingly and inactively in those paths into my 20s." By his early 30s, however, he "no longer had any confidence in the non-existence of God." Thereafter, he "approached Rome at a snail's pace," and was finally received into the Catholic Church on June 18, 1986.
Career
Black became involved in a number of businesses, mainly publishing newspapers, and briefly in mining. In 1966, Black bought his first newspaper, the Eastern Townships Advertiser in Quebec. Following the foundation, as an investment vehicle, of the Ravelston Corporation by the Black family in 1969, Black, together with friends David Radler and Peter G. White, purchased and operated the Sherbrooke Record, the small English language daily in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In 1971, the three formed Sterling Newspapers Limited, a holding company that would acquire several other small Canadian regional newspapers.
Corporate ownership through holding companie
George Black died in June 1976, leaving Conrad and his older brother, Montegu, a 22.4% stake in Ravelston Corporation, which by then owned 61% voting control of Argus Corporation, an influential holding company in Canada. Argus controlled large stakes in 7 major Canadian corporations, Labrador Mining, Noranda Mines, Hollinger Mines, Standard Broadcasting, Dominion Stores, Domtar and Massey-Ferguson.
Through his father's holdings in Ravelston, Conrad Black gained early association with two of Canada's most prominent businessmen: Bud McDougald and E. P. Taylor, president and founder of Argus, respectively. Following McDougald's death in 1978, Conrad Black paid $30-million to take control of Ravelston and thereby, control of Toronto-based Argus. This controversial arrangement resulted in accusations that Black had taken advantage of the aging widows of Ravelston Directors McDougald and Eric Phillips. Other observers admired Black for marshalling enough investor support to win control without committing a large block of personal assets.
Some of the Argus assets were already troubled, others did not fit Black's long term vision. Black resigned as Chairman of Massey Ferguson company in 1979, after which Argus donated its shares to the employee's pension funds (both salaried and union.) Hollinger Mines was then turned into a holding company that initially focused on resource businesses.
In 1981 Norcen Energy, one of his companies, acquired a minority position in Ohio-based Hanna Mining Co. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Norcen took "an investment position" in Hanna. However, the filing failed to disclose that Norcen's board planned to seek majority control. Black subsequently was charged by the SEC with filing misleading public statements, charges that were later withdrawn by "consent decree" after Black and Norcen agreed not to break securities laws in the future.
Dominion pension dispute
In 1984, Black withdrew over $56 million from the Dominion workers' pension plan surplus without consulting plan members. The firm said it considered the surplus the rightful property of the employer (Dominion Stores Ltd.). The Dominion Union complained, a public outcry ensued, and the case went to court. The Supreme Court of Ontario eventually ruled against the company, and ordered the company to return the money to the pension fund, claiming that though the most recent language in the plan suggested the employer had ownership of the surplus, the original intention was to keep the surplus in the plan to increase members' benefits. The company appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld the lower court's decision.
Industrial holdings shifted to publishing
Over time, Black focused formerly diverse activities of his companies on newspaper publishing. Argus Corporation, once Canada's most important conglomerate, divested itself of interests in manufacturing, mining, retailing, banking and broadcasting. Canadian writer John Ralston Saul argued in 2008, "Lord Black was never a real "capitalist" because he never created wealth, only dismantled wealth. His career has been largely about stripping corporations. Destroying them."
Growth and divestment of press holding
In 1985, Andrew Knight, then editor of The Economist, asked Black to invest in the ailing Telegraph Group. By this investment, Black made his first entry into British press ownership. Five years later, he bought the Jerusalem Post, and subsequently fired the majority of its staff. By 1990, his companies ran over 400 newspaper titles in North America, the majority of them small community papers.
Hollinger bought a minority stake in the Southam newspaper chain in 1993 and acquired the Chicago Sun Times in 1994. Hollinger International shares were listed on New York Stock Exchange in 1996, at which time the company boosted its stake in Southam to a control position. Becoming a public company trading in the U.S. has been called "a fateful move, exposing Black's empire to America's more rigorous regulatory regime and its more aggressive institutional shareholders."
Under Black, Hollinger launched the National Post in Toronto in 1998. From 1999 to 2000 Hollinger International sold several newspapers in five deals worth a total of US$679-million, a total that included millions of dollars in "non-compete agreements" for Hollinger insiders. Later in the year, Hollinger International announced the sale of thirteen major Canadian newspapers, 126 community newspapers, internet properties and half of the National Post to CanWest Global Communications Corp. Hollinger International sold the rest of the National Post to CanWest in the summer of 2001.
Lifestyle
Born to a rich family, Black acquired the family home and 7 acres (28,000 m2) of land in Toronto's exclusive Bridle Path neighbourhood after his father's death in 1976. Black and first wife Joanna Hishon maintained homes in Palm Beach, Toronto and London. After he married Barbara Amiel, he acquired a luxury Park Avenue apartment in New York. When sold in 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice seized net proceeds of $8.5 million, pending resolution of court actions. His London townhouse in the Kensington district sold in 2005 for about US$25 million. Black's Palm Beach mansion was listed for sale in 2004 at $36 million.
According to biographer Tom Bower, "They flaunted their wealth." Black's critics, including former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore, suggested it was Black's second wife, Amiel, who pushed him towards a life of opulence, citing extravagant expenditures such as items billed to Hollinger expenses that included $2,463 (£1,272) on handbags, $2,785 in opera tickets, and $140 for Amiel's "jogging attire."
Black was ranked 238th wealthiest in Britain by the Sunday Times Rich List 2003, with an estimated wealth of £136m. He was dropped from the 2004 list.
Criminal fraud conviction and Supreme Court review
Main article: United States v. Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Charge(s) mail fraud, obstruction of justice
Penalty Sentenced to 6½ years imprisonment
Status Served 28 months before being granted bail pending a Supreme Court ordered review of his case
Black was convicted in Illinois U.S. District Court on 13 July 2007 and sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison, pay Hollinger $6.1 million, in addition to a fine of $125,000.
Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due Hollinger International when the company sold certain publishing assets and other irregularities. For example, in 2000, in an illegal and surreptitious arrangement that came to be known as the "Lerner Exchange," Black acquired Chicago's Lerner Newspapers and sold it to Hollinger. He also obstructed justice by taking possession of documents to which he was not entitled. The case is still under appeal.
The Supreme Court of the United States heard an appeal of his case on 8 December 2009,and rendered a decision in June 2010. Black's application for bail was rejected by both the Supreme Court and the US District Court judge who sentenced him.
On June 24, 2010, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the definition of "honest services" fraud used in the trial judge's charge to the jury in Black's case was too broad and ordered the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Illinois to review three fraud convictions against Black in light of the Supreme Court's new definition. The appeal court will review Black's case and determine whether his fraud convictions will stand or if there should be a new trial. The jailed former media baron's obstruction of justice conviction, for which he is serving a concurrent 6 ½ year sentence, remains in place. Black's lawyers filed an application for bail pending the appeal court's review. Prosecutors contested Black's bail request arguing in court papers that Black's trial jury had proof that Black committed fraud. He was granted bail on July 19, 2010 by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and will be released on a $2 million unsecured bond put up by conservative philanthropist Roger Hertog. Black has been released from custody and has ordered to remain on bail in the continental United States until at least August 16 when his bail hearing shall resume, and the same day by which Black and the prosecution have been ordered by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for that court's review of his case.
Until July 21, 2010, Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #18330-424, was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Low, Coleman, a part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex Prior to being granted bail, his scheduled release date was October 30, 2013.
Following his release, coincidentally on his 18th wedding anniversary, Black wrote a column for Canada's The National Post on his time in prison. Black described America's inmates as an "ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead." Black was to appear once again in a Chicago court on August 16 to provide full and detailed financial information to the judge after which she would consider his request to be allowed to return to Canada while on bail. In spite of his professed desire to return to his former home in Canada, Black's legal representatives advised the court that they would not provide the requisite accounting and would thusly not be interested in petitioning the court further on the matter and vacated the August 16 hearing. Although many have cited this refusal to disclose as more deception on the part of Black it is possible that the voluminous amounts of information that would have been required for complete disclosure could not be compiled in time or would have been used to further incriminate Black in later proceedings, a potential violation of the fifth amendment of the constitution in American law. He was, however, under no compulsion to make this disclosure as he had initiated the appeal for a bail variation of his own volition. His next court appearance, where he may reapply for permission to return to Canada, is Sept 20, 2010.
On October 28, 2010 the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Seventh Circuit overturned two of the three remaining mail fraud counts. It left Black convicted of one count of mail fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice. The court also ruled that he must be resentenced.
IRS action against Black
In 2010, the Internal Revenue Service initiated a legal proceeding in the United States Tax Court against Black for $71 million in back taxes which it claims is owed on $120 million in unreported income between 1998 and 2003. Black is challenging the claim, arguing that he is not subject to US taxing authority claiming that he was, "neither a citizen nor a resident of the United States" and was not obliged to pay taxes in the U.S.
Peerage controversy and citizenship
Main article: Black v. Chrétien
Upon the advice of British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth II was to honour Black by raising him to the peerage. However, Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, gave the conflicting advice that a Canadian citizen should not receive a titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held dual Citizenship with Canada and Great Britain. As a result of the dispute, Black renounced his Canadian Citizenship in 2001 and is now a citizen only of Great Britain. He has applied to have his Canadian Citizenship returned to him, but currently this has not been granted. Some argue the motive for this is solely so that he may attempt to serve out a portion of his sentence in Canada rather than the US. Another view is that it would simply allow him to more easily cross the border into Canada, as his conviction in the US is sufficiently serious that he is considered inadmissible.
Books and other publication
A noted wit, Black has written an autobiography and three substantial biographies of controversial twentieth-century figures. In each he casts his hero as a man of incorrigible[clarification needed] intellectual strength buttressed and not weakened by partisan attack and personal malady. His revisionist works rescue Duplessis and Nixon from their status as moral pariahs, and portrays Roosevelt as an centrist who saved capitalism. Black writes in a highly erudite, if idiosyncratic, manner. His purple style and pointed criticism have been the subject of much derision in reviews.[citation needed]
Duplessis: Black re-worked his 1973 Master's thesis on Maurice Duplessis into a rehabilatory biographical re-examination of the controversial long-serving Quebec premier, published in 1977.
A Life in Progress: An autobiography, published in 1993.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Champion of Freedom: While Black was CEO of Hollinger International, the company spent millions of dollars purchasing collections of private papers of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Black subsequently completed a 1,280-page biography, in 2003.
What Might Have Been: A 2004 essay of speculative history depicting the latter half of the 20th century as it may have unfolded had Japan not bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, edited by Andrew Roberts.
Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full: Continuing in the vein of Duplessis, Black's 1,152-page 2007 biography of Richard Nixon sought to rehabilitate the former U.S. President's legacy. This approach was criticized by some reviewers, who felt that it attempted to exculpate Nixon of some negative aspects of his time in office.
Black continues to contribute regular features to the National Post, the newspaper he founded in 1998 and sold in 2001. In an article there, Black indicated that his next book will describe how his business empire was destroyed while court-protected managers enriched themselves and eradicated shareholder value. He says, "The judiciary and regulators in both countries are complicit in these events. They will have much to answer for. This is the real story, and I will publish it soon."
In the November 2008 issue of Spear's magazine, Black wrote a diary piece from jail, detailing 'the putrification of the US justice system' and how 'the bloom is off my long-notorious affection for America'.
On March 5, 2009, Black contributed a piece to the online version of the conservative magazine National Review (NRO). Called 'Roosevelt and the Revisionists' and based on his earlier biography of Roosevelt, it argued that FDR's New Deal was intended to save capitalism, and so deserved conservative support. In her March 9 critique of this piece on NRO, author Amity Shlaes observed, "I will be co-hosting, with Dean Thomas Cooley of NYU/Stern, a Second Look conference on March 30 to permit scholars to present the multiple studies that suggest the New Deal and Great Depression are worth taking a look at from every angle. The great shame here is that Conrad would have added much to this event, and yet he cannot attend."
Biographies and portrayal in popular culture
The documentary film Citizen Black, which premiered at the 2004 Montreal and Cambridge film festivals, traces Black's life and filmmaker Debbie Melnyk's attempts in 2003 to interview Black, and her eventual interview. US prosecutors subpoenaed unused footage of a 2003 shareholders meeting for use in Black's trial.
Canadian actor Albert Schultz portrayed Black in the 2006 CTV movie Shades of Black.
Tom Bower's biography Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge (ISBN 0007232349) was published in 2006 by Harper Collins. It was republished in August 2007 with an additional chapter reporting on the trial and its outcomes.
There is talk of two dramas based on his life: one from Tom Bower and Andrew Lloyd Webber and another from Alistair Beaton.
The last authorized portrait busts of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel were created between 2001–2002 by Canadian sculptor Dr. Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook and arranged by noted Canadian artist Christian Cardell Corbet who himself also created a portrait of Black.
A book "Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour" was published in 2007 by ECW press and written by George Tombs. ISBN 978-1-55022-806-9