Black Friday: disgraced mogul will either face more jail time or deportation

Conrad Black’s resentencing Friday may be the final chapter of his near decade-long American legal saga, but it is one that, if freed, the prolific author will be forced to write outside the United States.

The Montreal-born former press magnate, who has been free on bail for about a year, will appear Friday morning before Justice Amy St.Eve in the Chicago court room where she handed him a 6 1/2 year prison sentence in 2007.

An appeals court last year reversed two of Black’s three fraud convictions, leaving St. Eve to handle the resentencing. She has three options: allow the 66-year-old to stay free based on time already served, uphold his original sentence, or send him back to jail on a reduced sentence.

Even if Black emerges a free man, he remains a convicted felon — with a presidential pardon his only recourse to clear his name — who will be targeted for immediate deportation.

“He’s a convicted felon, he’s no longer welcome in the United States,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former U.S. prosecutor and frequent commentator on the Black case.

“I think it’s reasonable to expect that he will stroll out of there. But more likely he’s strolling to the airport to his next country of domicile — not strolling to take in a Broadway play.”

Black was freed last July on a $2 million bond, with the stipulation that he remain in the U.S. until the appeal process concluded. He has since pursued virtually every appeal avenue.

After a Supreme Court rejection to rehear his case in May, it was clear he had exhausted every possible recourse — and resentencing was imminent.

If Black is allowed to stay free with his ailing, yet still stylish, wife Barbara Amiel, 70, it’s unclear where they’ll call home.

Black is a British citizen who renounced his Canadian citizenship for a peerage in British House of Lords. Usually, a criminal is accepted back into his country of citizenship, but Black has expressly stated that he wants to return to Toronto, where he built his fortune.

But first, Black — whose empire once included the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London and small papers across the U.S. and Canada — must focus on securing his liberty, said Steven Skurka, a Canadian criminal lawyer who wrote a book on Black’s case.

Black’s age, the 2 1/2 years he’s already served, the recommendation of a probation report — which suggested a minimum sentence of time served — the lesser amount of time his co-defendants spent in jail, and his good behaviour in jail are all reasons that Black should walk away, he said.

“And also — just bringing this case to an end.”

A chink of hope cracked opened in Black’s relentless pursuit to clear his name last June. The U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling that found a number of flaws in the “honest services” statute used to convict him of siphoning $6.1 million when he was CEO of Hollinger International Inc.

His fraud charges were sent to a lower court for re-examination, but the more serious obstruction of justice charge — laid after jurors saw a video of the mogul carrying boxes out of his Toronto office — was not affected by the high court’s decision.

The remaining fraud conviction, the judges found, involved Black and others taking $600,000 and had nothing to do with honest services: It was, they concluded, straightforward theft.

Those convictions alone are extremely serious and enough to warrant a 6 1/2 year sentence, said Chicago lawyer Andrew Stoltmann, who believes there’s less than a five per cent chance Black will walk.

“Mr. Black has been his own worse enemy and I think it is highly unlikely the sentence gets reduced.”

The prosecution will present its argument that Black should not serve a day less than his original 78-month sentence. Prosecutors will tell St. Eve that Black has a superiority complex — his attitude has changed little from the days he rubbed elbows with global elite.

U.S. attorneys have introduced the testimony of two prison officials who claim that Black was an arrogant inmate who treated others like servants and neglected his tutoring responsibilities to spend time writing his own book — possibly the expected sequel to his 1993 memoir.

The defence, meanwhile, upholds that Black was a model inmate, and benevolent educator who has been humbled by his prison experience.

St. Eve will hear both positions, but will also consider a pre-sentence probation report that recommends a reduced sentence of 33 to 41 months, as well as sentencing guidelines from a U.S. Commission.

Skurka notes that the punishment must reflect the fact that his initial sentence was based on three fraud charges on a $6.1 million crime, which has now been reduced to one fraud charge for a $600,000 transgression.

“You have to look at the number of the sentence in totality and not isolate it just to the obstruction charge. And clearly that six and a half year sentence is not immutable and will drop,” he said.

“The next issue is: what will his port of entry be? Will it be England, will he be allowed to come back to Canada?” Skurka said.

If freed, Black could immediately be taken into immigration custody. But more likely, lawyers have worked out a deal for him to voluntarily leave the country, Skurka and Frenkel say.

“I think its fair to assume that the deportation process has been negotiated even though no one is talking about it,” Frenkel said.

“He could be put into custody for a deportation proceeding. It’s more likely to say my bags are packed, I’m on the next the next flight to fill-in-the-blank.”

The British baron with the title Lord Black of Crossharbour,had earlier requested to return home to Toronto’s exclusive Bridal Path, where the climate is more suitable for Amiel’s health than the sweltering heat of Palm Beach mansion where she waited for his release

The request was initially denied and later dropped by Black.

But whether Canada will let Black return is another question. He’s been convicted of an indictable offence and renounced his Canadian citizenship a decade ago to become a member of the British House of Lords.

His only recourse may be a special dispensation from Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.