/
1x
Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
City News

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

By Douglas Bell
Copy link

It’s as though we’ve never been away. On Sunday night, with the Christmas lights of Chicago exploding along every throughway, reporters were piling into the restaurants and bars of the Loop chewing over the possibility that Lord Black might finally open his mouth inside Amy St. Eve’s courtroom. There were the usual prognostications (the consensus seems to be seven to 10 years).

The newly minted New York correspondent for The Telegraph, James Quinn, is on the elevator this morning at 6:30 a.m., all jitters and bluster. He takes a turn out the hotel door the wrong way down Dearborn, then turns back the other way. He fumbles with a map and points out somewhat redundantly, “I have a map right here.” As we plow toward the courthouse, he gains a certain confidence. “It’s always difficult to write when it’s your former proprietor who’s in the dock.” Further along he tries a joke: “We’re all here for Conrad. I can’t imagine anyone’s going to stick around to hear whether Jack Boultbee gets his alcohol treatment program.” I squeeze out a queasy laugh. On arrival at the courthouse door, the usual coterie of hacks are there vibrating with caffeine-injected anticipation. Worthington, Westhead, The Guardian’s Andrew Clark, bloggers, columnizers and, looking perfect for television before seven in the morning for God’s sake, BNN’s Amanda Lang. Among the overnight press, Andrew Clark affords the most interesting fodder speculating on Conrad’s prospects before the bench.

There is speculation that Black will address the court—his sentencing consultant, Jeffrey Steinback, told reporters over the weekend that he expected Black to “exercise his right” to speak. If he does, experts say he will need to comport himself in an uncharacteristically humble, conciliatory way to avoid making his predicament worse. “Unless it was scripted very carefully, if I were his lawyer, I would not let him speak,” said Rebekah Poston, a white-collar defence specialist at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. “What you really want to try to do is persuade the judge that there are particular aspects of his character which merit a lower sentence.”

And in one of the great turnabouts of history, Rick Westhead, one of Black’s most ferocious tormentors, conducted an interview with the great man at a restaurant in Palm Beach. The guy must really want to talk.

And so we wait lined up yet again on the 12th floor, the marshals keeping a watchful eye. In three or four hours, we’ll all be the wiser…

Black risks 10 years if he remains defiant: Source [Globe and Mail]

Black faces up to 24 years in prison: Source [Toronto Star]

NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY

Sign up for This City, our free newsletter about everything that matters right now in Toronto politics, sports, business, culture, society and more.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.
You may unsubscribe at any time.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Big Stories

Trump's Loss, Toronto's Gain: Meet the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries ditching the US and moving north
Deep Dives

Trump’s Loss, Toronto’s Gain: Meet the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries ditching the US and moving north

Inside the Latest Issue

The May issue of Toronto Life features the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries moving north to avoid the carnage of Trump. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.