Supreme Court Turns Down Conrad Black’s Follow-Up Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a follow-up appeal by media mogul Conrad Black after ruling in his favor last year in an opinion that curtailed the reach of the law barring “honest services” fraud.
Black had sought review of a federal appeals court ruling in October that upheld his convictions for obstruction of justice and fraud, according to Reuters and the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting with Bloomberg. The mixed ruling by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had struck down Black’s convictions on two other counts of honest-services fraud.
Prosecutors had accused Black of defrauding Hollinger International. The fraud conviction that was upheld related to a $600,000 payment made to Black while he was chairman of the company, the Chronicle says.
The Supreme Court had ruled last June that the honest-services law covers only bribery and kickback schemes. Black had argued all of his convictions should have been overturned because of the ruling, Reuters says.
