Black hole (Perle implicated in Hollinger fraud)

[psychopomp]

To the roll call of corporate scandals in recent years - a list of greed and shame that includes Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and others - the name of newspaper group Hollinger International may soon be added. An internal investigation into financial malpractice within Hollinger conducted by Richard Breeden, a former chairman of the US securities and exchange commission, alleges a stunning sequence of "corporate kleptocracy" by Conrad Black, the recently ousted chief executive of Hollinger. Mr Breeden's report bluntly states that Lord Black and others, including the US politician and neo-con Richard Perle, "committed deliberate acts of fraud, and violated civil and criminal statutes" by pocketing secret payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds. In essence, Lord Black and his coterie appear to have milked the finances of Hollinger's assets, including the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator, as a source of personal wealth, over the legitimate claims of its shareholders.

Mr Breeden's 500-page report is alternately shocking and amusing in illuminating the scale and nature of the apparent abuse by Hollinger's senior executives, which seem to have been blithely approved by the company's directors. From claiming $42,870 for a birthday party in honour of Barbara Amiel Black, the Daily Telegraph columnist turned Hollinger board member, to the more serious charge that Lord Black and allies received cash equivalent to 95% of Hollinger's entire net income for six years - more than £200m - the 14-month long investigation supports its conclusion of "aggressive looting".

-more
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1295381,00.html

The focus by the Guardian is more on Conrad Black, though the more dirt dredged up on Perle, the better.

edit: BusinessWeek article:
Hollinger's Troubles, in Black and White
-snip
The board matters. Directors, says governance activist Nell Minow, have a "duty of curiosity." But the Hollinger board, consisting of Black's social, business, and political pals, seemed tuned out. According to the report, the executive committee didn't discuss -- or even read -- documents it was signing that approved transactions benefiting Black and costing Hollinger millions. "It is difficult to imagine a more flagrant abdication of duty," the report states.

When a board is hand-picked by the top dog, shareholders need to be especially on guard. Hollinger's board was star-studded: It included Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State, and national security expert Richard N. Perle. But clearly it didn't make the effort to put Hollinger and Black under the microscope.
-endsnip

[mom cat]

1. I wonder how much Pearl profited from his "negligence"?

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Funny, we haven't seen Mr. Perle in quiet a while?

He's probably hiding in his French Villa, lawyering up.

Gee, I wonder what happened to that lawsuit he was going to file in England, against Sy Hersh? Mmm, now tell me again, who is the terrorist, Mr. Perle?

[GOPAgainstGW]

3. Perle is the most Corrupt Nazi we have ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!

[emad]

4. Dupe: see:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=792520&mesg_id=792520