'I'm sorry for what I've done'
RADLER | Ex-publisher could serve only 6 months
F. David Radler -- the former Sun-Times publisher who looted the newspaper's parent company of tens of millions of dollars -- could serve as little as six months in a Canadian prison under a plea agreement a federal judge in Chicago accepted Monday.
Radler, 65, was sentenced to 29 months in prison and fined $250,000, but if he gets to transfer his sentence to a prison in his home country of Canada, he would spend significantly less time there because of less stringent rules. In the U.S. federal system, prisoners generally serve 85 percent of their sentence.
(AP)
"I'm sorry for what I've done," Radler said in court.
Radler got his plea deal because he showed federal investigators where the bodies were buried in the accounting ledgers of parent company Hollinger International and testified over several days against Conrad Black at the media magnate's trial in May.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Sussman, who prosecuted the case with Jeff Cramer, Julie Ruder and Edward Siskel, described Radler's cooperation as critical to the case. Black was convicted and sentenced to 6˝ years in prison.
Radler already has paid more than $61 million in restitution -- a fact that went "a long way" toward U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve accepting Radler's plea deal, the judge said. St. Eve was initially surprised at the proposed 29-month sentence, given the amount of Radler's fraud, when he pleaded guilty in 2005, she said.
Radler apologized Monday for his actions. "I made mistakes, and they hurt me and my family and others," he said in court.
Radler's transfer to a prison in Canada is not a done deal. Radler will have to apply for the transfer and wait for a response while he's in a U.S. federal prison. The approval process can take roughly a year, experts in the field said, though they cautioned that time can vary.
"There's never a guarantee" of approval, said Richard Atkins, an attorney based in Philadelphia who has handled hundreds of such requests.
Radler asked to serve his time at Moshannon Valley Correctional Institution in Philipsburg, Pa. The judge agreed to recommend his request to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
While Black had such celebrities as Elton John and radio host Rush Limbaugh write letters to the judge on his behalf, before Black's sentencing, Radler mustered Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.
"His concern for his friends is as absolute as it is considerate," Pappas wrote to the judge. Pappas could not be reached for comment.
