A US appeals court has granted former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black bail pending an appeal against his fraud conviction.The terms of Black's release will be set by the district court in Chicago which has been hearing his case but some reports say he could be released as early as this week.
Bail was granted after a US Supreme Court ruling last month opened the way for Black to challenge his July 2007 conviction for multi-million-dollar fraud. Black has served more than two years of a 78-month sentence. He and three other former executives of Hollinger International were found to have stolen $6.1m from shareholders.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a 1998 law which allowed corporate bosses to be prosecuted for depriving shareholders of "honest services" had been too broadly interpreted. This is said to have opened the way for Black's appeal and release from jail.
- Criminal lawyer Steven Skurka, author of Tilted: The Trial of Conrad Black, told the National Post, the Toronto-based paper founded by Black: "This is a very good sign for Conrad Black's appeal. When you consider the morsels that are left of the government's case, I think there's an excellent prospect that when Conrad Black leaves that federal prison, he's never going to be behind bars again."
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