- Note - Look at the list of officers... Richard Perle
and Henry Kissinger are among them... and their audit committee is headed
by former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson: http://yahoo.investor.reuters.com/OfficersBio.aspx?target=executiveofficers/biographies&ticker=HLR
-
- "While the Hollinger executives were treating Hollinger
like their private piggy bank, Hollinger's board, including ostensibly
blue-ribbon independent directors and Hollinger's audit committee, were
totally quiescent."
-
- CHICAGO (AP) -- Hollinger
International Inc.'s top executives "looted" the publisher of
at least $300 million, in part by approving the sale of newspaper operations
for as little as $1, an investor lawsuit contends.
-
- The company owns the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph
in London and The Jerusalem Post newspapers.
-
- The lawsuit filed by Cardinal Value Equity Partners says
the board and its audit committee often granted approval of transactions
relying only on assurances from executives who stood to personally benefit
from the deals, with no outside evaluation.
-
- "In short, the board never said no," said the
lawsuit, unsealed Friday. "While the Hollinger executives were treating
Hollinger like their private piggy bank, Hollinger's board, including ostensibly
blue-ribbon independent directors and Hollinger's audit committee, were
totally quiescent."
-
- The allegations stem from transactions in which Hollinger
sold more than $500 million worth of newspapers.
-
- Conrad M. Black stepped down as chief executive of the
Chicago-based newspaper publisher in November after an internal audit found
that $32 million in payments, including $7.2 million to Black, were unauthorized.
-
- The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating,
and Black is reportedly being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department
and Canadian securities regulators.
-
- According to the lawsuit, Hollinger's audit committee
approved the sale of newspapers at least two times to Horizon Publications
Inc., a private company owned by Black and Hollinger's former Chief Operating
Officer David Radler, for only $1.
-
- In those sales and others, Black, Radler and others also
received tens of millions of dollars in payments for agreeing not to compete
against papers that Hollinger had sold, the lawsuit said. Cardinal said
the non-compete agreeements, bargain sales and excessive management fees
led to a loss of at least $300 million.
-
- Jim Badenhausen, a spokesman for Black, declined comment
Saturday.
-
- In addition to seeking damages for itself and other shareholders,
Cardinal has asked a Delaware court to prevent Hollinger from approving
any new agreements benefiting executives.
-
- Hollinger's new management team said Friday that it had
agreed to such a moratorium while a special committee of its board conducts
an investigation.
-
- The company's audit committee is headed by former Illinois
Gov. James R. Thompson.
-
- Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
-
- http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/040103/na_fin_us_hollinger_lawsuit_2.html
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