LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – The Chicago Sun-Times reports that former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler, as a reward for his testimony, could spend just six months in a Canadian prison, where inmates can raise cattle and take “golf therapy,” claimed an attorney for Conrad Black.
“For this unbelievable sweetheart deal, you were prepared to tell the jury anything,” attorney Edward Greenspan said to Radler, who has pleaded guilty and is testifying in Black’s federal fraud trial.
“I was prepared to tell the truth, and that’s what I’ve done,” Radler retorted Monday.
Radler has testified that Black, former CEO of Hollinger International, ordered that millions of dollars that belonged to the company be funneled instead to himself, Radler, and other former executives. Hollinger International is the former name of Sun-Times Media Group.
In exchange for his plea, Radler hopes for a sentence of 29 months in a prison near his Vancouver home. He told Greenspan he didn’t know his sentence could be as short as six months.
Black’s defense wants to show that Radler is a liar, and that any wrongdoing was committed by him alone. Greenspan has spent the past three days of trial getting Radler to admit he lied about his actions in the past before deciding to plead guilty.
On Monday, Greenspan accused Radler of deceiving Black and a Canadian court about the voting power he held in a company Black and Radler co-owned. Radler denied the charge.
As to his key testimony about Black, Radler admitted there was no written documentation for phone calls during which Black allegedly ordered that money be moved away from Hollinger International.
The exchange between Greenspan and Radler was constantly hostile, with U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve having to warn Radler to let Greenspan finish questions.
