A billionaire media baron with a taste for a lavish lifestyle, Conrad Moffat Black is no stranger to the spotlight.

The flamboyant larger-than-life character with a ruthless business mind bought his first newspaper more than 30 years ago and went on to run hundreds of titles around the world, including the Daily Telegraph.

With homes in New York, Toronto, Florida and London, the socialite is known to enjoy the company of the rich, powerful and famous, with his glamorous second wife, journalist Barbara Amiel, 66, by his side.

But Lord Black of Crossharbour has seen his empire and power unravel in the space of four years as he faced the racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice charges.

He was born in Montreal, Canada, on August 25 1944. His father George was a wealthy brewery executive. Black’s entrepreneurial skills first caused him trouble when he was expelled as a 14-year-old student from Toronto’s elite Upper Canada College after he made 1,400 dollars by selling his classmates’ stolen exams.

He went on to read history at Carleton University, law at Laval and achieved an MA from McGill before he bought his first newspaper, the Eastern Townships Advertiser in Quebec, in 1966.

His media empire began to develop as he bought more small Canadian newspapers before he co-founded the Sterling Newspapers Group in 1971.

Seven years later, he became chair of the Argus Corporation, from which he launched the Hollinger group.

By the 1990s, Hollinger controlled 60 per cent of Canadian newspapers, along with hundreds of dailies in England, the US, Australia and Israel.

At its peak in 1999, Hollinger had revenues of more than two billion dollars and Black was publisher of the third-biggest group of newspapers in the world.

Black’s first marriage was to Joanne (born Shirley) Hishon, of Montreal, by whom he has two sons, Jonathan David Conrad and James Patrick Leonard Black, and a daughter, Alana Whitney Elizabeth Black. The couple divorced in 1992, the same year that Black married Watford-born Barbara Amiel.

He hit the headlines again when the British Government moved to ennoble him and was opposed by Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, who used the Nickle Resolution of 1919 to rule that foreign governments could not grant honours to Canadians that carry a title of privilege.

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?