Fraud Case Against Mogul Goes to Jury

The Conrad Black fraud case went to the jury today in Chicago, and the onetime press baron now awaits word on whether he'll walk free or face a decades-long prison sentence. The federal government contends that the ex-Hollinger chairman and three associates raided the company under the guise of complicated financial transactions, Reuters reports, pocketing millions of ill-gotten dollars.

The defense, as expected, wrapped up by attacking the government witnesses' credibility. The prosecutor flipped that tactic around, reminding the jury that the star witness who testified under an immunity grant was in a position to do so because of his association with the defendants and was "not Santa Claus," the Chicago Sun-Times reported. "He's not Robin Hood." (More Conrad Black stories.)