'You're wasting my fill-in-the-blank time'
Radler put on act, then OKd deal, lawyer testifies
Former Chicago Sun-Times Publisher David Radler put on a foul-mouthed, obnoxious act to gain the upper hand in a newspaper deal, according to testimony Tuesday in the fraud trial of Radler's former business partner, Conrad Black.
According to an attorney for a company looking to buy Hollinger International newspapers, Radler swore and stormed out of a meeting after the lawyer made an offer.
"He said, 'You're wasting my fill-in-the-blank time, and you wasted your fill-in-the-blank time,' " said Thomas Henson, an attorney for Community Newspaper Holdings.
He said Radler delivered his tirade as he yelled right in his face.
Henson said he believed Radler was putting on an act because soon after, he accepted the offer.
Gustav Newman, an attorney for defendant John Boultbee, tried to ask Henson if Radler was a good actor, but the government objected. The Radler evidence was significant because defense attorneys are trying to portray Radler, expected to be a star government witness, as someone who will lie to help himself.
Black, who built the third-largest newspaper empire, and three other former Hollinger International executives are accused of stealing about $84 million from the company. Radler pleaded guilty to the alleged scheme. Hollinger International is the former name of Sun-Times Media Group.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants used unjustified non-compete payments as a device to siphon money away from Hollinger International to Inc. and/or the defendants.
Lloyd Case, CEO of Forum Communications in Fargo, N.D., said he hadn't requested any non-competition agreement when he bought a paper in Jamestown, N.D., from Hollinger International.
That's because Case didn't think that anyone would be likely to try to establish a rival daily in a town of 10,000 people.
"We would have entered into the agreement without it," Case said.
During cross-examination, Black attorney Edward Genson tried to distance his client, then the CEO of Hollinger International, from the sales negotiations.
Under cross-examination, both Henson and Paxton Media Group CEO David Paxton said they had never met Black, but had met Radler and people who worked for him, including co-defendant and former corporate counsel Mark Kipnis.
The trial resumes Monday.