David Radler, former president of Hollinger International and longtime sidekick of Lord Black of Crossharbour, was indicted today in the United States.

In his report tonight, CTV colleague David Akin asks whether the number-two guy is being charged first to tighten the noose around the number-one target.

An excerpt:

U.S. attorneys said Radler, Mark Kipnis and Ravelston Corp., which controlled Hollinger's global publishing empire, are accused of diverting $32 million from shareholders through "self-dealing transactions."

Black has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Radler, who lives in Vancouver, is expected to plead guilty. He has reportedly agreed to testify in continuing investigations.

He and Black have been close business associates for years. Together they built a media empire that once included The Daily Telegraph, in England, and Canada's National Post.

"The investing public has a right to expect that officers and directors of publicly traded companies are managing, not stealing, the shareholder's money,'' said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

All three defendants were charged with five counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. They will be arraigned in federal court in Chicago at a later date.

The U.S. Attorney's office has been investigating the activities of both Black and Radler while they were senior executives of Hollinger International.

John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University, told CTV he thinks prosecutors are "following the standard playbook, the same one they used at Enron and WorldCom."

WorldCom's CEO, Bernard Ebbers, was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year on conspiracy and fraud charges. The key evidence in his trial was given by Scott Sullivan, who was Ebbers' right-hand man.

Experts say prosecutors could be setting up Radler to do to Black what Sullivan did to Ebbers.