More about Lord Black and Those Other Guys

Has anything been left unsaid when it comes to the trial of Conrad Black?

How about his three co-defendants? They made it through the whole scandal and a 15-week-trial with barely a mention in the ample media coverage in the United States, Canada and Britain.

A former vice president of the newspaper company Hollinger International, Peter Atkinson, the former chief financial officer, John Boultbee, and the former general counsel, Mark Kipnis, were tried and convicted alongside Black.

The four were accused by U.S. prosecutors in Chicago of pocketing $60 million in "noncompete" payments between 1998 and 2001 that should have gone to their employer, Hollinger International. On Friday Black's co-defendants were all found guilty of three counts of mail fraud, and face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.

That's not so different from Black's fate - the former C.E.O. of Hollinger was found guilty on Friday of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He could face as much as 35 years in prison.

Black's name -- and his name alone, for the most part -- has been splashed in headlines because he has been such a larger-than-life personality. His political friendships, his social climbing and pretensions (he is a British lord), his ambitions as a writer of history -- all have made for great press over the years.

And the discrepancy in coverage is partly because of the salacious spending details that came to light during the trial - such as Black throwing a single party costing $42,000 and his wife maintaining a shoe collection that would make Imelda Marcos blush. None of his co-defendants could maintain that sort of better-than-fiction flair.

Indeed, Black as subject matter is all-too tempting for some reporters.

"Black, 6-foot-1, silver-haired and barrel-chested..." begins a sentence in Bloomberg News's coverage of the verdict.

Somebody have a little crush?

Liz Gunnison