Monday's Cross-Examination of Mr. Radler: Still Continuing, With Different Hands

ormally, Mark Steyn is unabashedly pro-vindication; his blog posts do tend to be opinionated. Some of them, though, do contain scoops, such as two of his recent ones. The first discloses that Todd Vogt of Horizon Publishing was a stooge for David Radler, which explains how Mr. Radler hold majority control of the company that Conrad Black also owns a piece of. The set-up even used a "golden share arrangement," similar to the one that Reuters uses. The careful Mr. Radler has even gotten a written document - an undated but signed resignation letter - from Mr. Vogt in case the latter gets refractory. The second discloses that the $2 million payment mentioned in the indictment, which was wired from Chicago to Toronto, was ordered by that same Mr. Vogt.

Speaking of Reuters, its report on the cross-examination of Mr. Radler, by Andrew Stern, has been webbed. With regard to the inconsistency that Csr. Greenspan had pounced on early this morning, in which he exposed that Mr. Radler had testified on two previous occasions that he had reviewed / not-reviewed his statements submitted to the Special Committee, Mr. Stern writes, "[Mr. Radler] said he must have misunderstood Greenspan's question last week about what he had reviewed." The entire report has copious quotes from Csr. Greenspan's cross-examination this morning.

Mary Vallis also has a report, webbed by the Financial Post, which not only relates the final moments of Csr. Greenspan's cross-examination but also expands upon that rebuke reported on by Mr. Steyn, linked to below the dashes: "[After telling the jury to leave, she told the prosecutors] ''You leave an impression in front of the jury that is not proper,'...

"Mr. Sussman then stormed out of the courtroom."

A report aired by CBC Newsworld, at 3 PM ET, featured CBC reporter Havard Gould relaying the conclusion that Mr. Radler, as a witness, is still largely intact after Csr. Greenspan's cross-examination. He supplied no documents justifying the scheme allegation, though. What may stick with the jury is the "sweetheart" plea-bargain deal that Csr. Greenspan ended his cross with, including the part about serving in Canada, which has much more lenient parole regulations than the U.S. does for these kinds of crimes. Mr. Radler's professed ignorance of the lenience that accompanies serving the term in Canada "didn't ring true." As of now, no-one knows what path the other counsels will take in their own cross-examinations.

An updated CP report, webbed by 940 Montreal, relays that Csr. Greenspan listed all the deals mentioned in the indictment before closing with the remark that the plea bargain was the best deal Mr. Radler had ever made. It also discloses that the lawyer for Jack Boultbee, Gus Newman, is the next cross-examiner of Mr. Radler. [The CBC has webbed the same report, credited to Romina Maurino.] A recently-webbed Bloomberg report doesn't mention Csr. Newman's cross-examination at all; it focuses upon Csr. Greenspan's. It touches upon all the highlights, and carries an estimate of 20 years' prison time for Mr. Black is he's found guilty.

A report from David Akin, aired on CTV NewsNet at 3:30 PM ET, relayed this assessment from Steve Skurka: there was a "dramatic turnaround" for the defense this morning. Mr. Akin also disclosed this snippet from Csr. Greenspan's cross: when he mentioned the crimes "'committed here,'" Mr. Radler blurted out, "'By me?'" and Csr. Greenspan said, "Thank you very much." The only evidence of the alleged scheme were four phone calls, none with any supporting documentation. Mr. Akin ended his report by noting that Conrad Black "may" have something to say once Mr. Radler is through the cross-examination.

An updated version of the same Reuters report contains this new intro: "Conrad Black's lawyer on Monday accused the star prosecution witness against the former media baron of being a habitual liar out to save himself." It also contains Mr. Radler's reaction to Csr. Greenspan's best-deal remark: "'I don't believe going to prison ... is a "great deal"," Radler replied angrily. 'I'm facing a 29-month jail sentence.'" It also contains his answer to Mr. Greenspan's suggested accusation that Mr. Radler alone commited any criminal acts, which really ended his cross: "'By me,' Radler replied, sounding as if he were mocking Greenspan's question."

The International Herald Tribune has webbed an Associated Press report, which only covers Mr. Greenspan's cross. In addition to summarizing, it uses the Horizon set-up as bookends, and relates the trial-specific context of Mr. Radler's holding company for the additional shares in Horizon, Vee Holdings: "Cross-examined by Greenspan, Radler said that he had testified in a civil trial several years ago in Canada that he and Black each owned 24 percent of Horizon. Greenspan noted that Vee Holdings also owned shares." The existence of Vee was also used to suggest that Mr. Radler had fooled Mr. Black in a business co-venture.

Havard Gould's update at 4 PM contained little new information. It did, though, contain Mr. Gould's conclusion that, at most, there were "seeds of doubt" planted by Csr. Greenspan. It doesn't appear as if this pivotal moment in the trial did anything for Conrad Black at all.

David Akin's, broadcasted by CTV NewsNet at 4:30 PM ET, did have news on Csr. Newman's cross-examination, after reporting that the lawyers observing the trial believe that Csr. Greenspan did rather well today. Mr. Akin reported, contrary to Reuters' Andrew Stern , that Mr. Radler sounded surprised, not mocking, at the end. As far as Csr. Newman's line of questioning is concerned, it is trying to establish that Jack Boultbee was just an accountant, like many others. Mr. Boultbee, in other words, "had nothing to do with it." Mr. Akin forecasted that this approach is the same one that the other defense counsels will probably take. [CTV News has webbed an associated report on Csr. Greenspan's cross-examination.]

AHN News has weighed in with a brief report of its own, which summarizes Mr. Radler's testimony this morning. So does Stephen Foley of The Independent; his report covers the same ground.

The report for BBC News goes into more detail, and works in some testimony Mr. Radler made under direct examination last week. David Letterick's, for the Telegraph, focuses upon the final moments of Csr. Greenspan's cross-examination, from which it quotes.

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Mr. Steyn still shows his opiniatedness; he did relate with some glee Judge St. Eve's tongue-crack directed at Eric Sussman: "Prosecutor Sussman was not happy about the country-club line of questioning about [Mr. Radler's plea agreement, which occupied the last part of Eddie Greenspan's cross-examination], and angrily objected twice that Mr Greenspan had no good-faith basis for what he was asking. The judge overruled the objections and at the recess slapped down the prosecution harder than she ever has before. 'Don't make that objection again in front of the jury,' she rebuked him. 'It's not proper.'" (This rebuke does answer Mr. Steyn's earlier complaint that Csr. Sussman was getting too easy a ride.)

Also, a story by James Bone webbed in the Times Online, details a civil suit by Sotheby's International Realty for its commission on the sale of Conrad Black's former Manhatten apartment, which notes that " Patricia Patterson, Lord Black’s broker at Sotheby’s, said in a deposition that she was surprised to find that the five chandeliers in the flat had been removed by Lady Black."

In an item related to the broader issues underlying the trial, another activist mutual fund is going after another honoured U.K citizen, for clarification of the strategy and governance of the media company he is the CEO of and partly owns. The mutual fund is Franklin Mutual Advisors, and the CEO-shareholder is Sir Richard Branson. (The company is, of course, Virgin Media.)

Finally, Douglas Bell, in Toronto Life's Conrad Black trial blog, finds real significance in the moment when Conrad batted away Tony Fell, after the latter flew down to Palm Beach to urge the former to settle.