Hollinger Case Yields Guilty Plea

Former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking part in a scheme to siphon away $32 million from Hollinger International Inc., the newspaper’s parent company.

Radler, who resigned in 2003, entered his guilty plea to one count of mail fraud in federal court in Chicago. He has cooperated with prosecutors, who have said the investigation is continuing. Radler remains free on bond.

Radler was indicted Aug. 18 along with a former Hollinger International executive and Toronto-based Ravelston Corp., a private company owned until this spring by media titan Conrad Black, on five counts each of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. They were accused of cheating shareholders in the United States and Canada, as well as Canadian tax authorities.

Black, ousted chief executive and chairman of Chicago-based Hollinger International, was not charged in the indictment. Black had no comment Tuesday on Radler’s plea, spokesman Jeff McAndrews said.

Black stepped down from Hollinger International in late 2003 after an internal investigation accused him and other executives of looting the company’s coffers of hundreds of millions of dollars. The company removed Black, who has denied wrongdoing, as chairman in January 2004.

Radler’s attorney, Anton Valukas, said after the hearing that Radler, 63, of Vancouver, Canada, felt “sorry and saddened for the pain he has caused.”

“This is the first step in making amends for what has taken place,” Valukas said.