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Presidential Clemency Record

Conrad Moffat Black

Pardon

  /   2017–2021

Record at a Glance

Clemency type
Pardon
Presidential term
2017–2021
Federal district
Northern District of Illinois
Offense
Mail fraud; attempted obstruction of justice
Sentence
42 months' imprisonment (amended on June 24, 2011); two years' supervised release (December 10, 2007)
Current status
UK Parliament records the end of Black's House of Lords membership in July 2024. The New Criterion's current author page describes him as a financier, columnist, and author; this describes his public work, not a legal-status determination.

Original Case

Conrad Black was prosecuted in federal court in Chicago on fraud and obstruction charges arising from transactions involving Hollinger International. A jury convicted him in 2007 on several counts while acquitting him on others. Appellate litigation later narrowed the case, leaving convictions for mail fraud and attempted obstruction of justice. After resentencing, his punishment was reduced to 42 months in prison; he had completed the custodial sentence before Trump pardoned him.

Clemency

Trump granted Black a full pardon on May 15, 2019, covering his Northern District of Illinois convictions for mail fraud and attempted obstruction of justice. The White House cited Black's writing and the support of several public figures as its rationale for the grant. The pardon did not constitute a judicial reversal of the surviving convictions.

Trump Connection

The White House said Black's pardon was supported by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Elton John, Rush Limbaugh, the late William F. Buckley Jr., and other public figures. It also cited his work as a newspaper owner, historian, and author, along with his tutoring of 150 students while incarcerated. Those were the administration's publicly stated reasons for clemency. Although Black has sometimes been described as a longtime Trump friend, the cited sources do not document the history or extent of that relationship.

Since Clemency

  • 2024-07-09 · political development

    UK Parliament records the end of Lord Black of Crossharbour’s membership for non-attendance.

    Legal Status: Parliamentary status change, not criminal sanction.

  • 2026-10-21 · foreign-policy commentary

    New English Review published Black's column discussing U.S. sanctions on Russia, the Ukraine war and Trump's foreign-policy approach. Black argued that Trump's approach sought to prevent a decisive Russian victory while avoiding greater Russian dependence on China.

    Legal Status: Attributed commentary by Black, reprinted from The Epoch Times; not independent verification of the column's geopolitical claims or evidence of Russian payments or organizational ties.

Sources

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