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Tuesday in court, assistant U.S. attorney Eric Sussman did. And in answering Sussman Radler incriminated himself — which he’d done already when he pleaded guilty to fraud. We’ll find out when the trial ends if he also successfully incriminated Conrad Black. He talked about a “template” that “Toronto” decreed would govern the sale of Hollinger International properties: 25 percent of all noncompete fees would be kicked upstairs to Hollinger Inc., the holding company he and Black controlled. “Toronto,” he explained, was what the Chicago office that he ran called Black and the other execs headquartered there.“What reasons, if any, were you aware of for Hollinger Inc. to deserve 25 percent of the noncompete fees,” Sussman asked at one point.
He recalled a board meeting in early 1999 when Black and he said nothing about a $2 million noncompete fee assigned to Hollinger Inc. when a Hollinger magazine was sold. Radler was uneasy. “I didn’t think the transaction — I didn’t know if it was legal or not legal,” he said. “I didn’t like the transaction, and I regret to this day that I didn’t say anything.”
