Jurors thought Hollinger’s Mark Kipnis was a nice guy. But that didn’t stop them from convicting him. David Hechler reports
The jury called him St Mark – an odd name for Mark Kipnis, the former vice president, corporate counsel and secretary of Hollinger International, considering these same jurors convicted him of a felony. But saint or sinner, no one disputes that the 60-year-old lawyer is a genuinely nice guy. After his conviction in Chicago federal court last summer (following a four-month trial), neighbours, co-workers, and clients sent letters to the judge praising a man who helped them do everything from sell a business to fix household disasters. Even the prosecutor arguing for a three-year prison term at Kipnis’s December sentencing hearing felt obliged to remind the judge: “Mr Kipnis was not indicted because he was a bad person.”
