Conrad Black's Partner David Radler Pays US$28.7M Fine & US$63.4M Settlement

Radler Agrees to Pay US$92.1M in Restitution

March 20, 2007. On March 16, Conrad Black's former partner David Radler, agreed to pay a US$28.7 million dollar fine as part of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, Radler, the former deputy chairman and chief operating officer of Hollinger International Inc., will be barred from acting as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.

On Sunday, March 18, Radler's lawyers announced that Radler would pay Sun-Times Media Group Inc., formerly Hollinger International, $63.4 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought against him regarding the backdating of stock options.

In a separate plea agreement with prosecutors from the US Attorney General department in the criminal indictment against Black and his cohorts, Radler had pleaded guilty, accepted a 29 month jail sentence and a $250,000 fine.

David Radler, is expected to be the prosecution star witness at Black's (and three other defendant's) fraud and racketeering trial which was scheduled to start on Monday, March 19, 2007.

Radler's Settlement with the SEC

"Radler and others misappropriated millions of dollars from Hollinger International and made numerous misstatements to shareholders as part of their scheme," said Linda Chatman Thompson, SEC's director of the enforcement division, in a press release. "The tough sanctions in this settlement, including one of the largest civil penalties in recent years against an individual wrongdoer, reflect our resolve to act forcefully against corporate officers who perpetrate fraud against those whom they were supposed to serve, the shareholders of the company."

Radler's Settlement with Former Shareholders

The shareholders of Hollinger International who had reconstituted themselves as Sun-Times Media Group Inc., announced on Sunday, March 18, 2007 that they will receive US$72 million from Radler and North American Newspapers Ltd., owned by Radler, as well as Horizon Publishing Co. and Bradford Publishing Co., to settle current claims and potential additional claims against Radler related to backdated stock options.

Sun-Times Recoveries Up To $185 million

Gordon Paris, chairman of a special Sun-Times board committee and former chief executive of Hollinger International said in a statement, "Today the company takes a significant step in obtaining restitution for the acts of the company's controlling shareholders and former management." "The settlements announced today - combined with the previously announced settlements with the company's former counsel Torys LLP, its former outside directors, and former officer Peter Atkinson and the 2004 Delaware judgment against Conrad Black and Hollinger Inc. - bring the total recoveries thus far to about $185 million."

The former minority shareholders of Hollinger International Inc. (HII) which has now evolved into Sun-Times Media Group Inc., had claimed that Conrad Black, David Radler and their associates had stolen more than $400 million from HII.

corporate governance news

Radler Agrees to Pay US$92.1M in Restitution

Radler's Settlement with the SEC

Radler's Settlement with Former Shareholders

Sun-Times Recoveries Up To $185 million

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