Jury selection concern in Conrad Black trial

Former media mogul Conrad Black’s racketeering and fraud trial resumed its search for a jury yesterday, with some prospective jurors expressing concerns about business corruption.

“I’m sure it happens all the time, and I hope they all get caught,” one said.

But most people interviewed yesterday said they could give a fair trial to the 62-year-old British lord accused of fleecing his Hollinger International newspaper empire of €61 million.

The trial’s opening statements are Monday morning.

US District Judge Amy St Eve let slip that real estate mogul Donald Trump has been added to the government’s list of potential witnesses. There was no hint as to what Trump might be asked.

Black is accused of selling off hundreds of community newspapers in the US and Canada and pocketing payments from the buyers in return for promises not to compete in markets where the newspapers were in circulation.

Prosecutors say Hollinger and its shareholders should have got the money.

Hollinger once owned The Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Toronto-based National Post and the Jerusalem Post, as well as hundreds of community newspapers.

The Toronto, British and Jerusalem papers have been sold, and the name has been changed to Sun-Times Media Group.