For as long as there have been companies and accounting standards there have been people who are trying to beat the system and divert some of the company’s profits and assets to their own pockets. In this report we will discuss an accounting scandal that surfaced in 2004 and it involved Hollinger International as well as Conrad Black who was the CEO at the time.
History of Hollinger International Inc.
The original Hollinger was discovered in 1909 by Benny Hollinger, it was a gold mine named Hollinger Gold Mine. Hollinger became an incorporated company in 1910. In 1978 Conrad Black, upon gaining control of Argus Corporation Limited, acquired a control block of Hollinger Mines and the company eventually became Hollinger Argus Limited. On September 17, 1985 Hollinger Argus Limited amalgamated with another two companies to form what is currently known as Hollinger Inc. After 1985 the company started to acquire newspapers and started to divest itself of all other holdings except certain real estate properties they had acquired. (The History of Hollinger Inc.) Currently Hollinger is a global newspaper with English language newspapers in the United States, Great Britain and Israel. Some of their major assets include The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator in Great Britain, The Jerusalem Post in Israel and a number of community papers in the Chicago area. (Boritz, Robinson). Hollinger International, Inc is a publicly traded U.S holding company based in Chicago. Black was the controlling shareholder, chairman and chief executive of International, Inc. and Ravelston (Fitzgerald, 2005). Hollinger Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian holding company based in Toronto.
Accounting Scandal
Conrad Black and David Radler improperly diverted million ...