• The Wall Street Journal (by subscription only), Friday, July 21, 2006 1 PM

Former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black, facing federal fraud and racketeering charges for diverting cash from the company, is still living the high life, reports The Wall Street Journal. Black, whose trial is scheduled to start next March, is forking over $95,000 a month in mortgage and property taxes for his Toronto estate, plus $7,900 a month in gardening bills. That has led Judge Amy St. Eve of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to demand that he explain his spending. Prosecutors charge that he has violated a $20 million bail bond by not disclosing all of his income or the value of his assets. Black says the charges "are bunk," adding: "I have made full disclosure at every stage...We will have no difficulty answering the judge's questions." But he and his wife regularly attend social events in Toronto, and he has reportedly pledged C$500,000 to the Canadian Opera Company, notes the Journal.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal (by subscription only) »