Former Hollinger Exec to Cooperate in Suit

Hollinger International Inc. said a former executive agreed to cooperate with the newspaper publisher in a lawsuit that alleges former Chairman Conrad Black helped mastermind a scheme to misappropriate $390 million of company funds.

Peter Atkinson, who was Black’s top in-house lawyer from 1995 until Atkinson resigned as executive vice president of Hollinger International in January, settled similar allegations and repaid $2.8 million, the company said. He remains a consultant to Hollinger International, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Telegraph in London.

As general counsel at Hollinger Inc., the Canadian company that Black uses to control Hollinger International, Atkinson drafted or received many of the e-mails that the lawsuit cites to bolster its allegations. He also helped structure some of the transactions that Hollinger International says Black and his associates used to enrich themselves at its expense.

Black has denied the charges.