Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge

by Tom Bower ACT

The riveting tale of how the wanabee aristo Conrad Black and his social-mountaineering wife Barbara gulled their way into the City, the Tory party, Wall Street and High Society. This new paperback edition will be fully updated to include details of Black's high-profile trial for corporate fraud, sure to claim international attention. The rise and fall of the media tycoon Conrad Black is rivalled in its spectacular extravagance only by the machinations of his social-mountaineering wife, Barbara Amiel. Together their story of overweening ambition and greed is a modern-day classic of hubris. There is no bolder or better-informed chronicler of the follies of the rich and powerful than Tom Bower. Fearless in the approach which has brought him accolades for his gripping exposés of Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland, Mohammed Fayed and Richard Branson, Bower reveals how the Blacks financed a billionaire's lifestyle and won friends and influence in London and New York. Born into considerable wealth in Canada, Conrad Black bought and sold (but never effectively managed) several businesses, from mining and tractors to broadcasting companies and newspapers. In 1985 he bought the Telegraph group in London, where very little was known of the controversy over his past financial dealings. In 1992 he married Barbara Amiel, who later famously said, 'I have an extravagance that knows no bounds'. Besotted with his wife, he began living way beyond his means. Fabulous parties, jewellery, clothes, private jets and homes followed. In 2003 an independent report in America accused him of 'outright fraud', 'ethical corruption' and 'corporate kleptocracy' - allegations that he will vigorously deny at his trial in Chicago in 2007. This edition will be updated to include the full story of the trial in all its sensational detail. Tom Bower's book, based on over 150 interviews with bankers, politicians, celebrities, power-brokers and close friends, is packed with intimate revelations. It is a hugely entertaining account of gullibility in high places.

Genres: Biography, Business, Economics, Biography Memoir

576 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

Reviews

[Will Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE have living here in Toronto The Good, in Canada, a convicted corporate felon, "Lord ('Tubby') Black and his gold-digging venomous wife, 'Lady', Barbara Amiel Black.. He is the corporate likeness of Hollywood's shameless Fatty Arbuckle, the obscene clown.
Tubby and wife lived the jet set lifestyle for a long while. They had amassed a fortune in the tens of millions. possibly even in the hundreds of millions. Two private jets. Four mansions, servants, Rolls Royces.

They got caught. All lost now, in their ghastly fall to disgrace, narrated masterfully by author Tom Bower. Tubby finally was caught out in his vicious game of corporate kleptocracy. Now the duo reside as renters in Tubby's daddy's Rosedale mansion. Gone are the private jets, mansions in London, Palm Beach, New York, and now even daddy's mansion ― all seized by the Law as partial payment toward Tubby's debt to shareholders of his companies whom he had ripped off so boldly.

Now the couple burnish a vicious hatred of author Bower for this voluminous book. And well the Blacks might despise Bower for this investigative revelation of the truth of their criminal lives! Bower writes masterfully about the countless swindles and treasury raids committed by Lord Black during the high-flying days of the shining, glorious Hollinger Inc. and various other subordinate corporate creations held and controlled ― and raped ― by Black. Tubby thought of himself as an international heroic newspaper tycoon because Hollinger at different times owned hundreds of newspapers all around the world. Even though Black's companies were publicly owned, he treated them like his own private piggy banks, there to spill wealth into his and Barbara's greedy hands! Lord and Lady Black had finessed swindle upon flimflam upon deception upon deceit against the company treasuries, enriching themselves shamelessly, leaving shareholders in distress and dismay.

Bower's writing is fast and incisive. A real page-turner. This book takes the narrative only to the conclusion of Tubby's criminal trial in a U.S. court. Black got multiple convictions for various felonies. The story stops short of sentencing, unfortunately. Nevertheless, even though we know about Black's ultimate time spent in jail and his hard-won freedom to live again in Canada ― without Canadian citizenship and at the mercy of immigration officials ― the story is a great one.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine biography of an interesting pair (euphemistically so).

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read Barbara Amiels version of events first I then turned to Tom Bowers to get a bit of balance. As you might expect the 2 versions represent extreme positions on the see saw.

If we are to believe Bower Black is a megalomaniac who having once found a way to silt large amounts of tax free cash from his business ( the so called non compete clauses ) pursued this strategy relentlessly and brazenly in defiance of the law and the increasing concern of work colleagues and shareholders.

Blacks dilemma was - how to spend money that is in the business without having to pay tax on it : the difference though is Black only owns 18 pct of Hollinger so really has no right to extract the sums we are talking about - one figure mentioned is circa 74 percent of the net income of the business over a 5 year period . If true that really is quite shocking .

So why did he do it ? He had a great business. He was owner of the Telegraph and many other American newspapers .

My view is that “his feet left the ground “. He was so impressed by the Billionaire set and he so badly wanted to be one of them (they thought maybe he was ) that he lost all sense of proportion and reality where money was concerned . He forgot that to make money you have to make sure income outweighs expenditure . His wife no doubt puffed up his sense of himself . Moreover his was a personality which responded eagerly to flattery and thoughts of world domination. He leapt wholeheartedly from the solid ground up up up and then down into the abyss .

Truly this is a story of Hubris . Black deserved to be cut down to size and he was.

Of all the things in the book that struck me - the most telling was Blacks lack of family loyalty. He misssed his brothers 60th ( the saddest party i ever attended sais his first wife ) and at no point does it appear he was trying to build a dynasty for his children. It was all about Conrad Black

[Studvet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story about a bumptious egotist and his poisonous, social-climbing, greedy wife.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best writing or editing in the world, but a jaw-dropping tale of unbridled greed.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Interesting subject if a bit dated now. Very good author and will definitely read more of his work.

[Maggs]

I started this but have not finished. Will get around to it.