With Conrad Black's trial drawing to a close, and the former media mogul refusing to testify , questions are now arising whether the guy will get convicted. Whatever his excesses, some are casting doubt on whether he broke the law.

"The way the case has unfolded, if I had to bet right now, I think it's very unlikely that he (Black) will go to jail," Rick Powers, assistant dean of management at the University of Toronto, told the Montreal Gazette.

"In the end, there's a corporate government structure in place (and) it appears at this stage that he (Black) followed it. Maybe the audit committee and some of the directors didn't have the whole picture, but they were certainly in position to question some of these payments, and they didn't."

Add to that the view of an ex-juror who told the Globe and Mail that she thought he would get off.

For the benefit of those who have been on Mars for the last few months, Black, and three other former Hollinger International executives have been accused of swindling Hollinger out of $60 million through the sale of hundreds of the company's community newspapers across the United States and Canada and swindling its board of directors and its key audit committee about the non-compete payments. He has also been charged with defrauding Hollinger through his purchase from the company of a Park Avenue apartment, billing the company for two-thirds of a $62,000 birthday party for his wife at swish restaurant La Grenouille and taking the company plane on a two-week vacation for himself and his wife to the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia.

If Black walks, all the corporate fat cats who have used company money as their own will breathe a sigh of relief.