Media Mogul Conrad Black Released From Jail
Wednesday 21 July 2010 16:17, UK
Disgraced media tycoon Conrad Black has been freed from prison on a $2m (拢1.3m) bond, while a US judge decides whether to throw out his conviction for defrauding shareholders.
The former Daily Telegraph editor has served less than half of his six-and-a-half year jail term at a minimum-security prison in Florida.
Businessman and friend Roger Hertog posted the bail money.
, who began his sentence in March 2008, was convicted of stealing $6.1m (£4m) from the now defunct media holding company Hollinger and trying to cover up his crimes.
The Canadian-born British peer and three fellow Hollinger executives convicted in the case also paid themselves tax-free bonuses as they sold off pieces of the Hollinger empire.
But the 65-year-old has been set free as he waits for a court to decide whether to overturn the convictions.
His lawyers asked that he be allowed to return to Canada but the judge said he must remain in the US.
Last month, Black won a victory when Supreme Court justices ruled in June that the law used to convict him on three fraud charges was too vague.
The clause was a favourite tool for white-collar crime prosecutors precisely because of its broad language, but the highest US court ruled it could only be narrowly applied to cases involving bribery or kickbacks.
Black applied for his release immediately after the ruling.
In December 2007, Black wrote to Canadian public broadcaster CBC saying he would be back after serving his jail term.
He wrote in an email: "Prison would be a bore, but quite endurable. I can get on with anyone and adjust to almost anything and I don't consider it shaming to go to prison.
"I don't see custody as (a) dead end."
But even if his conviction is overturned, Black still faces numerous civil suits related to Hollinger, and US authorities have demanded $71m (£46m) from him for unpaid taxes.