Defense Attacks Credibility Of Black’s Former Associate

CHICAGO, May 9 — A defense lawyer in Conrad M. Black’s criminal fraud trial attacked the credibility of the chief prosecution witness, F. David Radler, on Wednesday by pointing out the numerous times Mr. Radler had lied before he cut a deal with federal prosecutors.

Mr. Radler and Mr. Black, partners for more than three decades, built Hollinger International into one of the world’s largest newspaper companies, owner of The Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post and other papers, until they were pushed out of the company in 2003, accused of financial abuses.

Mr. Black, 62, is charged with swindling Hollinger International, now known as the Sun-Times Media Group, mainly by selling assets and receiving millions of dollars in so-called noncompete payments from the buyers that prosecutors contend should have gone to Hollinger International shareholders.

Two years ago, Mr. Radler, 64, who was Hollinger International’s president and chief operating officer, pleaded guilty to a fraud charge and agreed to testify against Mr. Black and three other former colleagues, who have pleaded not guilty to a range of charges.

In two days of testimony for the prosecution, Mr. Radler told the jury that he and Mr. Black decided to help themselves to unauthorized bonuses by disguising them as noncompete payments. Mr. Radler said that Mr. Black, who was the company’s chairman, chief executive and controlling shareholder, initiated the payments.

When cross-examination began Wednesday afternoon, Edward Greenspan, a prominent Canadian defense lawyer who received special approval to defend Mr. Black in Federal District Court here, sought to undercut Mr. Radler’s credibility.

Mr. Greenspan pointed out that Mr. Radler had lied on more than 10 occasions from 2003, when an internal committee was set up at the company, to 2005, when he struck his deal with prosecutors. Mr. Greenspan hammered on the notion that Mr. Radler’s plea deal, under which he could serve as little as six months in Canada if the judge approves, is entirely dependent on whether he pleases prosecutors.

Mr. Greenspan drilled Mr. Radler on the corporate and government officials he had misled before making his plea agreement. Mr. Greenspan said that Mr. Radler lied to the special committee of Hollinger International’s board, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the federal lawyers in the courtroom Wednesday and his own lawyers.

“At one point or another you lied to all of them, right?” Mr. Greenspan asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Radler replied.

Earlier, Mr. Greenspan became exasperated when Mr. Radler said he could not recall whether he had sworn either to God or on a Bible to tell the truth in an earlier court case in Canada. Mr. Black, who had a dour expression throughout Mr. Radler’s earlier testimony, chuckled quietly at some of the exchanges.

Anticipating Mr. Greenspan’s onslaught, the assistant United States attorney, Eric H. Sussman, wrapped up Mr. Radler’s testimony Wednesday by essentially asking him to explain why he had lied before and why he should be trusted now. Mr. Radler replied that he had earlier tried to “rationalize” some of his conduct.

In earlier testimony for the prosecution, Mr. Radler explained how in one instance, he and the defendants were together paid $5.5 million for agreeing not to compete with themselves. That agreement involved the community newspaper division of the company, which had been nearly sold off by February 2001, when the agreement was signed. At that point, the division had only one newspaper remaining — a modest paper in Monmouth, Calif.

Mr. Radler testified that a private company that he, Mr. Black and others had set up to buy papers from Hollinger International and elsewhere later bought the Monmouth paper for $1 and “working capital.”

Prosecutors stopped short of asking Mr. Radler if Mr. Black ever instructed him to conceal the payments or avoid mentioning them to Hollinger International’s audit committee or board. “Who, if anyone, requested that you sign these noncompete agreements?” Mr. Radler was asked. “No one did,” he replied.

He later tried to explain that he initially thought the money really represented bonuses for the executives that would otherwise have been paid by Ravelston, a Canadian holding company that controlled Hollinger International.

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