The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

The CotoBuzz Journal is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and NAHJ

August 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

Of Media Moguls, Laguna Woods Peasants, Property Managers and French Nobility

July 14, 2007

Former media mogul Conrad Black (who once renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a member of the British House of Lords ) was convicted Friday (July 13, 2007) of swindling the far-flung Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out of millions of dollars. Black, was found guilty by a federal jury of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He was acquitted of nine other counts ranging from tax fraud to racketeering. He was also acquitted of fleecing Hollinger shareholders through such perks as taking the corporate jet on a two-week vacation to the island of Bora Bora

The three-month trial drew international media attention, heightened by the British lord's posh lifestyle and sometimes haughty comments. When shareholders grumbled about the cost of the Bora Bora trip, he wrote a memo saying: "I'm not prepared to re-enact the French revolutionary renunciation of the rights of the nobility."

Black's comments echo sentiments expressed by embattled Laguna Woods Village property management company executive Milt Jons. “Many of them, most of them, are cake and punch”, said Jons, defending the property management company’s (PCM) use of credit cards issued to employees. Jons' comment's prompted a critic to ask the rhetorical question: " LET THEM EAT "CAKE" THEN "PUNCH" THEM?"

Jons recently criticized the Orange County Register for sensationalizing the issue, while Laguna Woods residents have asked the California Attorney General to look into the matter.