Media Roundup: First Closing

Now that the closing arguments have started, the coverage of the Conrad Black trial has expanded:

1. From CTV News, a summary of Judy Ruder's closing argument, with approving commentary from trial watcher Hugh Totten. It includes a note that she "attacked a claim by Edward Greenspan, Black's Canadian attorney, that the audit committee of Hollinger International's board of directors approved the non-compete payments at a Sept. 11, 2000 meeting.... [and later] 'conveniently forgot' when people criticized the payments.

"'There is nothing, no evidence, nothing at all to suggest Mr. Greenspan's allegation,' Ruder said, almost shouting."

2. The New York Times has a report by Richard Siklos, entitled "Closing Arguments Begin in Black Trial." Mr. Siklos relates: "In a daylong closing argument, Julie Ruder, an assistant United States attorney, frequently struck a tone of outrage and repeatedly dismissed the arguments of Mr. Black’s defense team as 'ridiculous.'" Csr. Ruder also quoted, in support of her argument, an excerpt from defense witness Alan Funk, a former FBI investigator into white-collar crime and the closest witness in the trial to a police officer.

3. The Washington Post has webbed an abridged AP report by Mike Robinson.

4. Yesterday's closing argument has rated a brief article webbed by the Khaleej Times Online, of Dubai, UAE. It summarizes Csr. Ruder's argument as "a scheme in which Black and other executives awarded themselves what amounted to massive tax-free bonuses by lying to the board and saying that the buyers of the papers had asked them to sign non-competition agreements."

5. The prosecution's closing argument has made item #3 in a daily digest of business items in the Houston Chronicle.

6. A Times Online report has been excerpted by the South African Website "Legalbrief."

7. Andrew Clark of the Guardian is back, with a report entitled "Prosecutors urge the jury to see through Black's 'phoney paper trail'"

8. The Chicago Daily Herald has an opinion column about the closing argument by Burt Constable, which casts the trial as a Shakespearian drama. In one paragraph, he focuses on Alana Black: "Through it all, Black’s adult daughter, Alana, behaves like a bored child in church...."

9. From Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune, a report that begins with: "In kicking off closing arguments on Monday, the prosecution described Conrad Black, the former chairman of Hollinger International Inc., as a liar and thief and the central figure in a series of dirty deals that enriched him and other former executives while defrauding shareholders." It also reveals that she explained motive by claiming that "he treated Hollinger as his private company -- not an entity owned by public shareholders. In the process, he and other former executives 'systematically stole over $60 million.'" The evidence showing this, she contended, was the buyers' testimony that they did not request a non-compete agreement in advance of the sale's closing.

10. The Los Angeles Times has webbed an excerpt of the Reuters report on the prosecution's closing argument.

11. The Edmonton Journal has webbed a CP summary that mentions the latest juror to be excused from the trial.

12. Mary Vallis has written a report, as webbed by the National Post, which mentions some of the spectators there: Conrad Black's entire family, Barbara Black's ex-husband George Jonas, and Csr. Ruder's father. It also mentions the missing juror.

13. BNN had an interview with Amanda Lang, aired at 8:23 AM ET. Ms. Lang believed that a lot of the doubts about the prosecution’s case were “put to rest” yesterday. Csr. Ruder was very methodical in the closing argument. She claimed that the existence of a paper trial is irrelevant, and that the purpose for the corporate jet is irrelevant too. The next closing argument is from Edward Genson. Csr. Ruder had to admit that Marie-Josée Kravis and James Thompson were bad witnesses. She also left a hole regarding the buyer’s: why did they sign the sale agreement with the non-compete agreement in them? Ms. Lang also said that it isn't known why the latest juror went missing.

14. The Vancouver Province has a summary that includes a note that the prosecution "saved some key bits of evidence for closing arguments: invoices for a number of extravagant purchases Black made -- including $150,000 US spent at a bookseller and a $2.6 million US ring."

15. The Calgary Sun has webbed Peter Worthington's latest column on the trial. He notes that Csr. Ruder quietly dropped the metaphor used by Jeffrey Cramer in the prosecution's opening address, "of 'four conspirators' wearing suits and ties rather than masks and carrying crowbars like burglars." He notes that the defense has a challenge ahead of it, and also observes that "[t]he difficulty for journalists covering the trial -- and it is a packed courthouse now that we're on the end-game -- is to reduce seven hours of prosecution rhetoric into five minutes of newspaper reading." He also speculates that the real nub of this case is taxes.

16. Janet Whitman's report on the closing argument for the New York Post notes that "[s]everal courtroom observers concluded after Ruder's strong, daylong presentation that Black's lawyers would face a heavy burden trying to raise reasonable doubt about the alleged crimes when they begin their closing arguments today."

17. Mary Wisniewski's, for the Chicago Sun-Times, begins with: "Jurors at Conrad Black's fraud trial were warned Monday to 'keep your eye on the ball' and not be distracted by the 'cover story' presented by the defense." It includes a mention of that metaphor about a bus driver taking the bus home for the weekend. (For all I know, it might end up in one of those Hollywood teen movies.)

18. The report in the Daily Mail comes with two photographs, one of Conrad Black and the other of both Mr. and Mrs. Black.

19. CBC News: Morning aired a report by Mike Hornbrook, right after 9 AM ET. Mr. Hornbrook mentioned that both Edward Greenspan and Edward Genson will make the closing argument for Conrad Black. Csr. Genson has “a tough row to hoe” today. Like the other observers, Mr. Horbrook thinks that Csr. Ruder did quite the job; she gave the prosecution’s case “coherence.” The jurors were “very attentive.” [CBC News also has a report on the prosecution's closing address, with a link to another televised report that's been broadbanded.]

20. Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown has devoted his latest column to the prosecution's closing argument, which starts off by his observation that "[t]he government's case against former Sun-Times owner Conrad Black sounded considerably better in the retelling Monday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Ruder than it had during months of testimony from the witness stand." Despite Mr. Brown's self-disclosed sympathy for the prosecution, he acknowledges that "Radler is a person for whom truth-telling does not come naturally, which made him a very problematic witness.... During his own turn as a witness, Thompson couldn't bring himself to eat the humble pie he so richly deserved[, which] made him easy pickings for the defense as he tried to defend his practice of 'skimming' important documents instead of reading them." He concludes, though, that Csr. Ruder managed to show that the prosecution's case does not hinge upon their testimony, thus easing over the earlier difficulties that the prosecution had with them.

21. Paul Waldie's latest report, as webbed by the Globe and Mail, begins by revealing that Csr. Greenspan will begin the closing argument for Conrad Black. "Mr. Greenspan is expected to spend several hours arguing that prosecutors have not presented enough evidence to convict Lord Black of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and obstruction of justice. He will be followed later in the day by Edward Genson, a Chicago lawyer also representing Lord Black." It also notes, in a summary of yesterday's closing argument, that Csr. Ruder conceded that all three Audit Committee members had fallen down on the job. The report ends with a forecast that Eric Sussman will give the prosecution rebuttal next Monday. [A related report goes into the closing argument in more detail, and has a sub-section entitled "Bring Your Family To Court Day."]

22. CTV News has webbed an AP summary entitled "Defence to make closing arguments in Black trial."

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Mark Steyn has come up with a different twist on the prosecution's closing argument in a late-night entry in his Maclean's Conrad Black trial blog - one that will probably not be too surprising for veteran Steyn-watchers. Instead of describing Csr. Ruder's closing argument as brilliant or captivating or whatnot, he effectively categorizes it as spellbinding and more appropriate for a TV movie. Although not directly relevant to the trial, he also makes the point that the control structure implies that Conrad Black had a fiduciary duty to three groups of shareholders, implying that all he did was bobble the requisite balancing act. (Regardless of the outcome of the trial, that point is a sobering one for any management type. The more corporations with shareholders you head up, the more fiduciary duties you have to shoulder.)

[In a later entry, Mr. Steyn did concede that some of the defense's arguments were a bit of a stretch. Eg: "Despite the multiple occasions on which his lawyers have brought it up, the fact that Jack Boultbee was briefly publisher of Saturday Night - in 1987 - is not a reason for a community newspaper group in Alabama to pay him a big-time non-compete fee."]