Conrad Black: I'm no Gatsby ... he was a charlatan
Conrad Black has dismissed comparisons between his rise and fall and that of F. Scott Fitzgerald's charismatic but flawed millionaire, the Great Gatsby.
In a letter to today's Times, Lord Black of Crossharbour, who is on trial in Chicago for a £30 million fraud, distances himself from supportive comments made by their columnist William Rees-Mogg.
Signing himself Conrad Black, the 62-year-old peer, who is charged with defrauding his Hollinger newspaper empire's shareholders, states: "I understand he meant well by his reference to the Great Gatsby, but Gatsby was an amiable charlatan who ended up being murdered in his own swimming pool.
"I accept the sentiment but not the analogy. William seems to imagine that while I may be acquitted, my world has somewhat imploded, like Gatsby's. I don't think so.
"I was departing the conventional newspaper industry anyway, although I had not foreseen such a tumultuous exit, but
Gatsby. when justice is done in Chicago I will be back, and look forward to seeing him."
On Monday, Times commentator Lord Rees-Mogg wrote: "There is, of course, one figure who leaps out at one as the true role model for Conrad; not Napoleon, not Beaverbrook, but the Great Gatsby. They have the same energy, the same liking for hospitality, the same big romantic illusions, the same virtues and some of the same flaws."
Lord Rees Mogg said last night: "I'm not sure Gatsby is a charlatan, actually. He's perceived as a war hero. He's plainly perceived as highly charismatic. But he's perceived as somebody who's carried away by his own ambitions."
He said he was flattered that Lord Black had named him as one of only three friends who had remained loyal to him following accusations he looted his business empire. The other two were Dominic Lawson, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, and William Oddie, former Catholic Herald editor.
Lord Black's lawyers have conceded the peer's airs and graces may alienate the jury. In a bid to humanise his client, lawyer Ed Genson admitted he "sounds snotty" and "has an arrogant attitude".
But he told jurors: "Other than a bad attitude you're not going to find a single thing that's wrong."
The prosecution will outline details of Lord Black's use of a corporate jet for a holiday on the island of Bora Bora and company funds for a £32,000 birthday party for his wife Barbara Amiel.
Anticipating this, Mr Genson told the jury that Lord Black's life was "different from ours - not better, just different".
He argued the birthday party, which was attended by property billionaire Donald Trump, counted as a business expense, while the jet was needed to provide security for Lord Black.
Referring to the accused peer's grandiloquent style - which has seen him vow not to "re-enact the French revolutionary renunciation of the rights of nobility" - Mr Genson said: "For my purposes in this case he goes a little too much for rhetorical flourishes and I wish you did not have to have his musings."
The case continues.
