Lord of the foreclosed manor

Even with the media empire gone, Conrad Black just can't stay out of the news, which also sustains the possibility that some of the vast rightwing conspiracy personalities to which he's connected might go down with him. The latest revelation from Patrick Fitzgerald's prosecution of him is the bizarre state of Black's finances, in which the lifestyles of the rich and famous are financed at the interest rates that might even embarrass the toughest urban bail bond agent.

Black is securing his bail with a house in Florida, but Fitzgerald suspects that Black views the house as a millstone -- with good reason -- and would be happy to dump it into the government's hands; with the bail forfeited he could then just remain in Canada and battle any further proceedings to get him to appear in court in Chicago (WSJ, subs. req'd):

The government is seeking a forced sale of his oceanside Palm Beach estate because a payment due June 15 wasn't made on a $10 million promissory note that is secured by the mortgage on the property, the documents say. As a result, the interest rate on the loan was pushed up to 26% from 21%, and the government's ability to eventually recover equity from the property has been jeopardized, according to the documents ...

A financial affidavit provided by Mr. Black at the time of his bail arrangements disclosed four Canadian bank accounts. But Mr. Black may be holding back on disclosing all of his assets, prosecutors argue. He recently paid taxes of about $460,000 on the Palm Beach house and made a donation of 500,000 Canadian dollars (US$446,000) to the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, according to the documents. Mr. Black's bail conditions allow him to live in Canada, with trips to Chicago for court dates

One possibility is that Lord Black is just not that good with money, which might be his planned defence for when the case comes to trial. But we still attach some weight to the possibility that one of these months, he's going to pop up in London, having carefully disposed of all his Canadian assets, and rely on the very tricky US-UK extradition laws to keep him free of Fitzgerald's courtroom.

[Here's a free link from the Chicago Sun-Times, via Romenesko]

UPDATE 27 SEPTEMBER. We've been meaning to revisit this post. Under the current UK-US extradition arrangements, Black is probably better off staying in Canada and making his court appearances in Chicago. If he went to Britain and then fought extradition, he would lose and then be forced to remain in the US until his trial date, assuming he could even get bail at that point. However, the UK parliament may yet suspend cooperation with the US on extradition, a consequence of the outrage over the NatWest 3. Anyway, Black appears to be working on a Plan B -- he is trying to get his Canadian citizenship reinstated.