Conrad Black gets six years

Is it me or is there one law for the rich and another for the poor?

Bank robbers regularly go down for about twenty years, but Conrad Black steals $6.1 million and he gets six and a half years in jail and a fine of $125,000? Furthermore, he doesn't go to jail straight away, he gets until March to get his shit together so he can enjoy his last Christmas at home with the family!

This strikes me as simply perverse. Most people jailed are carted off there and then; they certainly don't get a couple of months to prepare themselves before incarceration begins. Maybe this is a curious habit employed on the other side of the Atlantic, as I've only heard of it before in the case of "Scooter" Libby.

And Black, like "Scooter" Libby, is a man who has never expressed any remorse for his crimes. Indeed, even when given the chance to speak in court, his arrogance once again got the better of him:

After remaining silent throughout his four-month trial, the disgraced press baron delivered a final display of defiance as he accepted an opportunity to address the court. "I do wish to express very profound regret and sadness at the severe hardship inflicted on many shareholders at the evaporation of $1.85bn of value under the management of my successors," said the 63-year-old peer, speaking in a husky yet confident voice.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence as long as 20 years, citing his lack of remorse and his disdain of the US judicial system - which included describing prosecutors as "Nazis" and "pygmies".

He'll end up in some bloody open prison where he can wander to the local shops to buy wine, like Jonathan Aitken did.

The judge made a point of saying:

"No one is immune from the proper application of law in the United States and that, Mr Black, includes you."

However, the very fact that his act of theft was done by paperwork as opposed to conventional robbery seems to have resulted in a very lenient sentence.

It's hard to imagine some thief from council estate being given six years for stealing $6.1 million, it's bloody impossible to imagine that he'd be allowed to enjoy Christmas at home before his sentence even began.

It reminds me of that old saying about banks: If you owe them £500 they'll take you to court, if you owe them £5 million, they'll take you to lunch.

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Tags: Conrad Black