Saturday, July 14, 2007

Conrad Black - a victim of the times

George Jonas has an interesting take on Conrad Black’s sorry situation. In a nutshell, Jonas believes Black was the victim of his company’s usurpers who took advantage of the prevailing anti-corporate "Zeitgeist" and enlisted government regulators and prosecutors to do their dirty work:

The liquidators wanted to cash in. They had no use for the founder.... As far as they were concerned, the Moor had done his duty, the Moor could go.
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Larceny through government isn't new, though we usually expect to see it in
Russia or China. But in our days of government intervention....They point regulators at their targets, a grand jury being their biggest gun.
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Inquisitors rarely fail to find the heresy they're looking for. By the end of 2003, Conrad was ousted as CEO; in 2005 he was indicted, and in the spring of 2007 his trial began.
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The easiest way to rob a man is to call him a thief.
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The evidence didn't support the contention that Conrad and his codefendants defrauded the shareholders......Never mind the evidence, [prosecutors] told the jury in their closing statements. Forget the paper trail. Just follow the money, and whoever got it, convict him.
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Conrad had the facts on his side; the prosecutors had the spirit of the times. When the charge is witchcraft, and the venue is 17th-century Salem, whose chances do you fancy?
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After his ouster, stock values had dwindled from around $19 to barely $4.....Most of those who ran Hollinger into the ground never made it to court, either. They were content to draw their multi-million dollar fees for dismantling the house that Conrad built...
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...the media talked about "victimless crimes," but they were wrong. The victims were sitting at the defendants' table.
Good luck Conrad! May your appeals be successful!

1 comment:

  1. Give your head a shake - Black have never been a victim in his whole life.

    The man broke the law - he had a choice and he made the wrong ones. He's done this all his life beginning by cheating on his exams as a kid and being kicked out to now.

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