Lord Black of Crossharbour, who is awaiting a verdict in his fraud case, said: “I did not get exactly the trial I expected”.
The former Telegraph chairman told Canada’s National Post at the weekend that he felt he had a fair trial. But he said it was too soon to assess the jury, which begins its eighth day of deliberation today.
Lord Black said he had pondered the possibility of prison. “We’re putting everything in place for all contingencies,” he said. But he insisted he had never considered striking a plea bargain. “I violated no laws and whatever happens I will never waver in my view that I followed the only honourable and conscientious course,” he said.
Lord Black, 62, could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of 13 counts of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and obstruction of justice stemming from what prosecutors say was a scheme to loot $60 million from the newspaper company he ran. He denies any wrongdoing.