Media Tycoon Conrad Black Indicted for Fraud

Disgraced international press tycoon Conrad M. Black, who stepped down as head of his media empire in 2004 amid charges that he and other executives looted the company, was indicted on eight counts of wire and mail fraud in Chicago today.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said the high-living Canadian — who renounced his citizenship in 2001 to accept a British lordship — helped steal $51.8 million from Hollinger International Inc., which at one point had owned the Chicago Sun-Times, Jerusalem Post and the London Telegraph, as well as a majority of Canada’s English-language papers.

Fitzgerald issued an arrest warrant for Black, 61, whose whereabouts are unknown. He faces as much as 40 years in prison and $5 million in fines if convicted on all charges. Fitzgerald said he would seek Black’s extradition if he does not turn himself in.

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