Conrad Black has left Florida prison, official says
Posted July 21, 2010 5:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Former media mogul Conrad Black has left a Florida prison, an official says.
Black was granted bail on a $2-million bond, Wednesday.
However, Judge Amy St. Eve ordered that Black remain in the continental United States.
The bail hearing was held in a Chicago, Ill., courtroom.
Black was not in attendance as he is still in a Florida federal prison.
Black’s longtime friend, Roger Hertog, an American conservative financier and philanthropist, put up the bond money. Hertog refused comment outside the courtroom, saying all he had to offer was his smile.
Judge St. Eve also asked for a financial affidavit, saying she will decide after seeing the document whether Black can travel outside the U.S.
She also presided over Black’s trial in 2007 and sentenced him to six-and-a-half years in prison. He was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision weakened a law that prosecutors used against the Canadian-born businessman. His case has been sent back to the lower courts to decide whether his fraud convictions will be upheld.
Black will now spend his time in the Palm Beach estate that he reportedly sold and now rents from an investment firm.
