Inside Story

Conrad Black Seeks Pardon

Press lord begs Bush for last-minute clemency.

The former lord in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, proprietor of the Telegraph group in London and The Jerusalem Post, among many other titles, has applied to President Bush via the Department of Justice in Washington for his 6½-year sentence for fraud to be commuted. In March, Black began serving time in the low-security section of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in central Florida, after being convicted of obstructing justice and defrauding shareholders of his former newspaper company, Hollinger International Inc. Now he is hoping he will enjoy the commutation extended to Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, found guilty of lying to a grand jury.