The Ontario Securities Commission has permanently barred disgraced media baron Conrad Black from becoming an officer or director of any public or private company that issues securities in the province.

The country’s premier stock market regulator determined that the conduct by Black and former Hollinger executive John Boultbee — who were convicted of fraud in the U.S. — was “sufficiently abusive” that the pair should be barred from acting as officers, directors, investment fund managers, or promoters for companies that issues shares in Ontario.

Black was the founder and head of Hollinger Inc. and Hollinger International, an international newspaper empire that included the National Post, as well as other flagship publications in London, Israel, and Australia. Boultbee is a former chief financial officer of Hollinger.

“Both Black and Boultbee demonstrate a total disregard for and indifference to the findings of serious fraud by the U.S. courts and the creation of a scheme to defraud International and the shareholders of International,” OSC commissioners Christopher Portner and Judith Robertson wrote in a decision released Friday.

“Their attitude with respect to the discharge of their responsibilities as officers and directors of public companies raises serious concerns in our minds relating to their future behavior in Ontario’s capital markets,” they wrote in the decision, which is dated Feb. 26.

“We have concluded that sanctions against both respondents are appropriate and necessary in this matter.”

The OSC did not impose any trading bans on Black or Boultbee. Nor did it require them to pay investigation or litigation costs of the proceedings, held in Toronto last fall.

The Star was not able to reach Black or Boultbee on Friday. Black’s lawyer, Peter Howard, did not return an email seeking comment. Boultbee represented himself during the OSC hearing.

Black, 70, who now hosts a talk show on Vision TV, recently released a book on Canadian history called Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada from the Vikings to the Present.

“It’s something of a hollow victory for the OSC,” said Rick Powers, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Given the ages of Boultbee and Black, and the slim odds that either would be hired by prominent companies in Ontario, “the practical implications of the ban are nil, but it does serve as a precedent,” Powers said. “It puts a conclusion to a long-standing matter before the OSC.”

The OSC first alleged in March, 2005 that Black, Boultbee and other Hollinger executives were involved in a “scheme” to line their pockets with funds that should have gone to shareholders.

The allegations centre on a transaction in 2000 where Hollinger International sold a group of small newspapers. The company had $600,000 left from the proceeds of the sale.

The OSC alleged that the executives agreed to allocate the funds amongst themselves and other defendants as non-competition payments, though the purchasers never requested such an agreement, counsel for the OSC said during the hearing.

The commission postponed its proceedings until those in the U.S. were completed.

Black and Boultbee were each convicted of one count of fraud in the U.S. in connection with non-compete payments.

Black was also convicted of one count of obstruction of justice. He served 37 months in a Florida prison.

Most of the OSC’s original allegations against Hollinger and its senior executives, were removed when the commission picked up the case again in 2012.

The commission reached settlement agreements with former Hollinger executives David Radler and Peter Atkinson.

The provincial tribunal heard arguments on whether Black and Boultbee acted in a manner “contrary to the public interest” as defined by the Ontario Securities Act.

The respondents in the case signed undertakings with the OSC in March, 2007, not to seek or hold positions as officers and directors at public companies in Ontario.

The OSC wanted those temporary agreements to be replaced by a permanent ban. Black argued that was unnecessary.

Black also said that the U.S. proceedings were unfair and improper and that there was no need for the OSC to take action against him because he had no desire to be the head of a public company in Canada.

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Black is barred from being an officer or director of a public company in the U.S. under a settlement deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency also fined Black $4.1 million.

The ban does not come as a surprise, said James Morton, a lawyer who practices in Ontario and Nunavut and has closely followed the case.

“It’s the final chapter in a rather sad saga. I think this is probably the last we’ll hear of the Hollinger collapse.”

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