A jury convicted the former owner of the Jerusalem Post of obstruction of justice and fraud.
The federal jury in Chicago convicted Conrad Black of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction on Friday, and acquitted him of nine other related charges.
The charges related to allegations that Black and his partner David Radler, both Canadians, pilfered money from Hollinger International, the publicly traded media company they ran. Black, who faces jail time, will appeal, his lawyers said.
One alleged scheme was to fraudulently sell newspapers owned by Hollinger to Black, Radler and associates at well below value, in part by sabotaging the property while it was under Hollinger ownership.
Hollinger owned a large number of Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Its flagships were the Chicago Sun-Times, the London Daily Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post and Canada’s National Post.
Hollinger has since sold most of the properties, including the Jerusalem Post which is now owned by Israelis. Radler, who cut a deal for reduced jail time, testified against Black.
Radler was more involved than Black in running the Jerusalem Post and built close relationships with Israeli right-wing leaders, particularly Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
