BLACK DAY

A federal judge Monday sentenced former media tycoon Conrad Black to 6½ years in prison for his role in defrauding shareholders and skimming cash from his Hollinger International newspaper conglomerate.

Black, 63, was convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He has vowed to appeal his conviction and has 10 days to begin the process.

Black was also ordered to pay a $125,000 fine.

"This sentence will send a message that you do not engage in this type of behavior," said U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. "The court's sentence should adequately deter others from engaging in this conduct."

"Mr. Black, you have violated your duty to Hollinger and its shareholders," the judge said. "I frankly cannot understand how someone of your stature can engage in the conduct you did and risk everything."

His associates -- Peter Atkinson of Oakville, Ontario, Jack Boultbee of Victoria, British Columbia, and Mark Kipnis of Northbrook, Illinois -- were also due to be sentenced on Monday. Atkinson, Kipnis and Boultbee were also convicted of mail fraud.

Black left the court without speaking to reporters.




In the early 1990s, Hollinger International controlled 60 percent of Canadian newspapers in addition to hundreds of dailies worldwide, including the Chicago Sun Times, the Montreal Gazette, Britain's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.

Black resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of Hollinger in 2004 after an internal investigation into shareholders' complaints that he and other executives were lining their pockets with company funds.

Weeks after his November 2004 resignation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Black, as well as Hollinger International's former deputy chairman and chief operating officer, David Radler, and Hollinger International.

A year later, Fitzgerald brought eight criminal fraud charges against Black, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Federal prosecutors said Black and the other defendants defrauded shareholders of Hollinger International by collecting "non-compete" payments from the sales of media holdings. In a non-compete, the seller agrees -- in exchange for a payment -- not to compete in the buyer's market.
The prosecution argued that the payments ended up in the pockets of the defendants, as tax-free bonuses, instead of in the company coffers.

During the trial at the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois, which began in March, U.S. federal prosecutors described the lavish, eccentric lifestyles of Black and his wife, Lady Barbara Amiel, a journalist.

Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to become a British citizen and was awarded a place in the British House of Lords. He took the title Lord Black of Crossharbour.



The judge ruled that Black will serve his sentence in a U.S. prison, not a Canadian prison as the defense has requested.

She gave Black 12 weeks to surrender to federal authorities and recommended that he do so at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida as requested by defense attorneys.

A date for the surrender will be set later. If Black fails to do so, Judge St. Eve said, he will forfeit his properties in New York and Florida.

The court ruled in July that Boultbee and Atkinson will be allowed to return to Canada to serve their prison sentences.

INGRID IS ALIVE

The Colombian government has seized five videotapes from suspected members of a rebel group that show a number of hostages, including Colombian Sen. Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors, a government statement said Thursday.

The tapes are the only recent evidence that the hostages kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia (FARC) may still be alive.

Four of the five videos show recording dates in late October, while the fifth is branded January 1, 2007.

In addition to Betancourt and the contractors, several kidnapped members of Colombia's security forces appear in the tapes.


Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, acting on behalf of the Colombian government, held talks with Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba and Luciano Marin Arango, a member of the high command of FARC, in a bid to broker the exchange of as many as 50 kidnapped.

Those civilians include Betancourt, a Colombian-French national who was kidnapped in 2002 while running for president, and the three American contractors who were captured when their plane went down in 2003 during a drug-eradication flight.

The guerrillas have demanded the release of 500 imprisoned FARC rebels in return for their hostages.

Prior prisoner-release negotiations between Colombia and FARC have stalled over a rebel demand for creation of a demilitarized zone for the exchange and for released rebel prisoners to return to the guerrilla group.

In the early November meeting, Marin Arango reiterated the guerrillas' demands for a demilitarized zone.

Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The United States, the European Union and Colombia classify FARC as a terrorist group.