Peter Atkinson

Peter Atkinson is asking to be freed on bail while he challenges his fraud convictions, on the strength of the legal merit of his appeal. These grounds are likely to be echoed by Conrad Black, his co-defendant and former boss, in the near future.<br />Mr. Atkinson will raise four "substantial issues" on appeal, according to court documents his counsel filed in Chicago this week. Most notable is whether trial Judge Amy St. Eve erred by giving the jury the so-called "ostrich" instruction, allowing them to convict when there was a lack of evidence that he was wilfully blind to suspect financial transactions at the core of the case.<br />Lawyers for deposed Hollinger chief executive and chairman Lord Black have already announced their intention to advance the same argument on appeal.<br />Former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers remained free while he attacked a similar "ostrich" instruction in 2005, when he was convicted of swindling US$11-billion from the company he helped start. The former WorldCom chief's appeal was ultimately dismissed and his 25-year prison term upheld.<br />Mr. Atkinson was sentenced last month to 24 months in a U.S. prison and three years' probation after being found guilty of three fraud charges last summer alongside Lord Black, Hollinger's ex-chief financial officer Jack Boultbee and former in-house counsel Mark Kipnis. Mr. Atkinson is scheduled to report to jail on March 3.<br />Mr. Atkinson's bail application outlines other arguments he will ask the Seventh Circuit Appeal Court to consider in hopes of "reversal, a new trial, a sentence that does not include imprisonment or a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than the total of the time already served."<br />If he is not released, Mr. Atkinson could end up serving more prison time than is ultimately meted out, his lawyers say, or else he could face the difficult choice of whether to give up his appeal in order to serve his time in a Canadian penitentiary to be near his family -- a dilemma his lawyers say would be "patently unfair

Peter Atkinson

Peter Atkinson is asking to be freed on bail while he challenges his fraud convictions, on the strength of the legal merit of his appeal. Th...

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