The U.S. Supreme Court's surprise decision today to consider overturning the fraud conviction of Conrad Black is "a little bit of vindication," for the jailed former media mogul, his Chicago lawyer says.

"It's very good. It bodes well for Conrad...," Edward Genson told the Star from his Chicago office.

His staff have been in touch today with Black, who has so far served 14 months of a 6 1/2-year sentence in a Florida jail.

"I'm sure he's happy. It's a little bit of vindication."

Genson said the ruling could result in Black going free at least temporarily if the top court, after hearing petitions from the defence and prosecution, orders a new trial. But he added that he has no idea how long it will take the process to unfold and the ruling could potentially come after Black has served his sentence.

The justices will hear arguments later this year over the convictions of Black, the former chairman and chief executive of the Hollinger International media company, and two other former executives in connection with payments of $5.5 million (U.S.) they received from a Hollinger subsidiary.

The men argued they did not commit fraud because they did no harm to the company.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the convictions, but the country's appeals courts are divided on the central issue undergirding their convictions.

Genson said only a tiny minority of such applications to the top court are successful.

Both friends and enemies of former media baron Conrad Black expressed surprise at the U.S. Supreme Court's decision today to consider overturning his fraud conviction.

"It's always a surprise to get (this type of Supreme Court review) but it wasn't completely unexpected," his lawyer, Edward Genson, told the Star from his Chicago office. "It's very good. It bodes well for Conrad..."



His staff have been in touch today with Black, who has so far served 14 months of a 6 1/2-year sentence in a Florida jail. Black was convicted of obstruction of justice and mail fraud in 2007, after he and his associates took $5.5 million from a subsidiary of his company, Hollinger International, without telling its shareholders.



"I'm sure he's happy. It's a little bit of vindication," said Genson, who hadn't had the chance to speak to Black.



Former Hollinger shareholder Gene Fox, however, doubted that Black would get off.



"Although I'm surprised the Supreme Court decided to review the case, I'd be even more surprised if they overturned his conviction on the mail fraud charges," he said.



Black's lawyers will argue that his actions did no harm to the company, and therefore don't constitute fraud.



The 7th U.S. Circuit Court rejected that argument and upheld Black's conviction during an earlier appeal, arguing that taking the money was still fraud, whether or not shareholders were hurt. Similar cases have divided courts in the United States.



Eric Sussman, the lawyer who successfully led the prosecution of the fallen media mogul, said the Supreme Court is more interested in the case because it allows them to rule on that legal technicality and not because of the case against Black itself.



"I would be surprised if the Supreme Court were to say 'it's alright to lie to your company and your shareholders as long as it doesn't hurt them financially'," said Sussman, who now is in private practice. "It's a very narrow, esoteric legal issue."



Even if the court did overturn Black's fraud convictions, he would remain in jail because of his obstruction of justice conviction, Sussman said. That conviction is the source of most of the jail time in Black's sentence.



"I'm fairly confident he will remain in jail," he said.



Genson said the court's ruling today could result in Black going free at least temporarily if the top court, after hearing petitions from the defence and prosecution, orders a new trial. But he added he has no idea how long it will take the process to unfold and the ruling could potentially come after Black has served his sentence.



The justices will hear arguments later this year.



Genson said only a tiny minority of such applications to the top court are successful.

At issue is the reach of a federal fraud statute that was originally aimed at prosecuting public officials.

The Canadian-born Black and former executives John Boultbee and Mark Kipnis argue that the $5.5 million actually represented management fees that the subsidiary owed to the executives.

However, at least one shareholder argued that, if the payments had been legitimate compensation, Black would have reported them at the time, instead of keeping them secret from shareholders.



Hollinger once owned the National Post and a host of other Canadian newspapers, as well as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds of community papers across Canada and the U.S.

All of Hollinger's big papers except the Sun-Times have now been sold and the company that emerged changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.

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Black had asked president George W. Bush for a pardon before Bush left office in January. The request was denied.

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