the case. The winner of the law firm pageant was the Washington firm of Baker Botts. Greenspan was impressed with Bill Jefres in particular, who came highly recommended by Brendan Sullivan. Jefres would eventually act as co-counsel for Scooter Libby at his high-profile trial in Washington. Sullivan continued to act as Black’s criminal lawyer while Greenspan remained in the background as a legal advisor.
Greenspan was teaching for one week at Hebrew University in Jerusalem when a fees dispute arose between Black and Sullivan’s firm. Although Black had paid the firm millions, Sullivan asked for a further $25 million to represent him in his criminal matter. Greenspan told Black on the phone that “this is a fuck-off fee” and that Sullivan wanted to be removed from the file. There was some further discussion about one of Sullivan’s partners, Greg Craig, taking over the file for a significantly lower fee, but ultimately it was agreed that new criminal counsel would be sought.
Greenspan had already concluded that a criminal case was inevitable. Radler had pulled out of the joint defence agreement and was turning to become a prosecution witness. Certainly the disaster in Delaware had been closely watched by Radler’s Chicago attorney, Anton Valukas, a former United States attorney. The trial for Conrad Black would not be in New York as many suspected but rather in Chicago, the headquarters of Hollinger International. Chicago was an idiosyncratic town with its own character and personality. Black entrusted Greenspan with the task of choosing his Chicago counsel. “You pick the team,” he instructed him.
For Greenspan there was only one viable choice. The attorney with the best reputation in the city, Dan Webb, was out of the running because he was a law partner of Governor Thompson’s. Thompson was the chair of the audit committee at Hollinger International and would be a key witness in the case. That left Ed Genson, whom Greenspan knew because his daughter Juliana had worked for Genson for several years. The two men had dinner together every time Greenspan was in Chicago. Genson talked a great deal about himself at these dinners but Eddie found him to be colourful and amusing.
Genson was part of the Chicago fabric as much as Studs Terkel or Wrigley Field. In Genson’s own words, “everyone tries to hire me in Chicago.” In fact, Ravelston, the management company once controlled by Black and Radler, had earlier approached Genson to take on their criminal case.[4] Greenspan suggested he decline the case but made it clear that he wasn’t promising anything.
Greenspan met with Genson to discuss the parameters of his involvement in the case. Greenspan wanted to handle the case in Chicago and he would be the undisputed “boss.” If the two men differed, Greenspan would command the deciding vote. The second rule was that Greenspan would cross-examine Radler and the entire audit committee. Greenspan added Henry Kissinger, a Hollinger board member, to the list as well — the opportunity to cross-examine a former secretary of state was too alluring to pass up. Genson readily agreed to the terms. “Can we work together?” Greenspan asked Genson. “Absolutely,” replied Genson. “We’ll make a wonderful team. You’re the boss, Eddie.”
The two men shook hands. All that remained was for the client to meet Genson and approve. Genson’s office was located in the Monadnock Building in Chicago’s Loop. He kept a railroad spotlight from 1933 in the reception area. When the U.S. Attorney’s Office had been across the road he had occasionally shone the spotlight directly at them as a prank.
Genson’s introduction to Conrad Black reminded Greenspan of a scene straight out of Bonfire of the Vanities. Black walked in with his nose in the air. He was the “Master of the Universe [who] took a masculine pride in the notion that he could handle all sides of life.” The thought must have passed through Black’s aristocratic mind at that instant that he could have any big-firm guys he desired and was now settling on a character straight out of the world of the beleaguered defendant in Tom Wolfe’s classic novel: “How could he let any decision affecting his life be made by this sort of person in this sort of atmosphere? He had called in sick — that lamest, weakest, most sniveling of life’s small lies — to Pierce & Pierce; for this itching slum of the legal world.”[5]
Black accepted Greenspan’s recommendation for his co-counsel, and the key players in the defence team were in place. Genson never conducted any of the pre-trial motions in the case. That task was delegated to the “law guy” in the office, Marc Martin. Martin was regarded as having a keen legal mind and reminded Greenspan of his former partner, Marc Rosenberg (now a justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal).
Eddie Greenspan was the first person to let Conrad Black know that he would be charged criminally. Greenspan described it as a winnable case, but Black was “mad as hell.” The indictment against Black was announced on November 17, 2005, and was accompanied by a detailed press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Robert Grant, from the Chicago office of the FBI, summarized the case in the release in the following fashion: “The frauds in this indictment were blatant and pervasive: they extended from back rooms to the boardroom, and from Park Avenue to the South Pacific. Our job is to protect investors from Wall Street to LaSalle Street and in other global financial markets.”
The indictment was bulky, which is a typical feature of indictments in high-profile fraud cases in America. As one attorney noted, it serves the purpose of telling the story from the prosecutor’s point of view. The press receives the public document with all of the intended sound bites. That represents half the battle for the government. The other prominent feature of the indictment was that it contained vague charges like mail fraud where the actual criminal component was less than clear.[6]
As Greenspan observed, the case came down on Black “like a ton of bricks.” He put on a brave face in public but he was shocked at the severity and number of the charges. The racketeering charge seemed particularly mean-spirited to him and his attorneys. Greenspan and Genson both wondered what the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) had to do with non-competition agreements.
The prosecutors had the blueprint for their case in the investigative report prepared by Richard Breeden, the former head of the SEC who led the special committee that was appointed to look into the non-compete payments. They relied heavily on it. Their target was Lord Black of Crossharbour, a newspaper mogul connected to the Chicago Sun-Times who was much disliked in some circles. Both Genson and Greenspan worried that that their client would become the prosecutors’ ticket to a major law firm and the case would evolve into a crusade.
Bail was carefully negotiated before Conrad Black surrendered to the Chicago authorities. Greenspan left from Toronto with Black and Juliana on a private plane the morning of the surrender. Prior to the trip, Greenspan insisted that Black meet with him to discuss the consequences of surrendering to the U.S. authorities. There was never any thought of Black fighting extradition. When Greenspan told him about his possible sentence if he was convicted, Black stared at him as if he were crazy.
When they arrived at the federal courthouse in Chicago, they were greeted at the probation office by Genson and Martin. Black was never handcuffed, but in accordance with standard procedure, he provided a urine sample and a couple sets of fingerprints.
When they entered Judge St. Eve’s courtroom, the mood was serious and the bail hearing was all business. Martin presented Greenspan’s application to act as counsel in a Chicago courtroom and the application was granted with little fanfare. Greenspan was surprised, as he had believed it might be a contentious issue. Greenspan would later come to joke that he would never even fly over Chicago again because of the ordeal of the trial. But for now, he still loved the city.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Convictions
Over the course of a legal career that has spanned almost forty years, Eddie Greenspan has formed a symbiotic relationship with the media. It has resulted in his achieving a degree of fame in Canada that is likely unmatched in the country’s history. Just as Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby have attained superstar status in hockey, Greenspan has reached the same lofty heights in the legal sphere.
