The Supreme Court today has agreed to review the fraud conviction of media executive Conrad Black, who is serving a 6 1/2 year prison term, the Associated Press reports. The justices will hear arguments during it next term over the convictions of Black, the former chairman of the Hollinger International media company, and two other former executives in connection with payments of $5.5 million they received from a subsidiary.
The defendants argued that they did not commit fraud because they did no harm to the company. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the convictions, in an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, but appeals courts are divided on the central issue underlying their convictions, the "honest services" clause of a 1988 federal law.
