Conrad Black Update - Intrade Betting Still Not Active

The best coverage of the trial continues to be the Toronto Life Conrad Black Trial Blog.

Dealing a blow to the prosecutions case it was revealed today that the Board approved all the payments to Black. No deception was necessary, making the fraud charges less likely to stick. This hasn’t been reflected on the intrade.com yet where the contracts have almost no volume.

Ftpredict.com has been more active on the Conrad Black contracts and I’ve been shorting the Black Guilty All contacts there. A summary of the charges can be found here. This prosecution is a joke and they’ve loaded on 17 charges, no way they’ll nail all of them. So far Black is winning this one.

The Totonto Star has an amusing article about both teams performing to help sway the jury:

On Monday, for instance, Black's lawyer Ed Genson, who uses canes to walk and rides a motorized scooter to court, leaned against the witness box as he questioned a newspaper executive whose Kentucky-based company had purchased a number of newspapers from Hollinger International Inc.

Seeking to introduce a document into evidence, he asked Edward Siskel, an assistant U.S. attorney, whether he wanted to review the paperwork and held it out. When Siskel didn't look up from his computer Genson took a few unsteady steps toward the prosecutors' table.

A colleague appeared to nudge Siskel and he jumped up and walked over to Genson.