Media Roundup: Holick, Way

The overnight reports on the Conrad Black trial have filled in a few gaps:

1. From NewsMax.com, a Reuters report, credited elsewhere (including here) to Andrew Stern, which contains more details on Craig Holick's testimony. In addition to testifying that Todd Vogt wanted the payments to Mr. Black, Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson transferred quickly, he also testified that the payments were "'very clever but not illegal' ways to funnel money to a Canadian holding company closely controlled by Black" The report also states that Mr. Black has not been directly tied to any illegal activity, as of yet. It's also been webbed by the Sydney Morning Herald.

2. A brief summary of the day's events appears in the paragraph entitled "Conrad Black trial enters third week" in the Daily Briefing of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

3. From the Daily Southtown, an updated report by the Associated Press' Mike Robinson, which focuses upon the testimony of Angela Way. It notes that she hasn't been cross-examined yet. This report was also webbed by Canadian Business, and the Sydney Morning Herald has a shorter version, with an added reminder that the defense is blaming David Radler for any illegal transactions.

4. Canoe Money has a briefer summation, with a forecast of what point the defense will make on Wednesday's cross-examination of Ms. Way: "Defence lawyers are expected to portray the money as management fees wrongly characterized as non-compete fees."

5. Another AP report, webbed by the Los Angeles Times, re-caps David Paxton's testimony.

6. The Guardian's Andrew Clark's report includes the means by which an image of the cheque to Conrad Black was shown in court when Ms. Way was testifying. It also includes some testimony by Mr. Holick, elicited from cross-examination by relatively-unknown lawyer Patricia Brown Holmes, that Mr. Holick didn't check up on the veracity of the memo he demanded from Todd Vogt: "Mr Vogt was a senior executive of the company [relative to Mr. Holick himself]."

7. The Edmonton Journal has a report, entitled "Non-compete fees described as 'ingenious' at Black trial," which is available to subscribers only.

8. Paul Waldie of the Globe and Mail sums up the testimonies of both Mr. Holick and Ms. Way. His report also notes that Todd Vogt is expected to be a witness himself, but not for which side, and that Conrad Black arranged to have dinner with Dominick Dunne. (Given the hearsay element of Mr. Holick's testimony, Mr. Vogt will probably appear for the prosecution.)

9. The Toronto Star's Rick Westhead speculates that David Radler may appear on the witness stand as early as this week, because "several lawyers working on the case said that it would make sense for prosecutors to have him testify before turning their attention to Hollinger International Inc.'s audit committee in coming weeks. Radler may have been in Chicago practising his turn in the witness box, lawyers said." This report also has a recent picture of Mr. Radler.

10. Mr. Paxton's testimony gets a brief mention at the botton of the Kentucky Courier-Journal's "Business Briefs"

11. The Chicago Sun-Times report focuses on the testimony of both Ms. Way and Bill Paxton, with Mr. Paxton's first.

12. From the Vancouver Sun, a report which says that Ms. Way's testimony contradicted a suggestion, made by Mark Kipnis' defense counsel when cross-examining Mr. Holick, that Mr. Kipnis didn't know about the issuance of the cheques.


Also: A mildly pro-comeuppance editorial has been webbed...it's from the Japan Times.