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Lord Black of Crossharbour, once one of the most powerful press barons in the world, faces 15-20 years behind bars after a jury declared him guilty yesterday of looting the newspaper empire he built.

The former Telegraph chairman was convicted of three counts of fraud and one charge of obstruction of justice at the climax of a four-month trial in Chicago.

Black breathed heavily as he listened to the jury foreman read the verdict, clearing him of nine of the thirteen charges against him. He avoided the gaze of his wife, the columnist Barbara Amiel, until she asked a lawyer for a scrap of paper to scribble him a note. He passed her a message back.

The romantic hero who has run out of plots

Conrad Black, who once dressed up as Cardinal Richelieu, faces the prospect of donning an orange prison jumpsuit instead

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• Lord Black: a life in pictures

BACKGROUND

• Lord Black stays silent in defence

• The face: Black Narcissus

• Black 'was $60m robber in suit and tie'

• Black asked Trump to sing his praises

• Daughter steals show in Black’s trial

Related Internet Links

• Analysis, video and accusations from the Lord Black trial

Related Links

• From swaggering tycoon to uncommon criminal

• What now for the dutiful wife Barbara Amiel?

• The case against Conrad Black

Multimedia

• Lord Black: a life in pictures

The verdict completes the public disgrace of the Canadian-born peer, a friend of Baroness Thatcher who was elevated to the House of Lords by Tony Blair at the request of William Hague. The Conservative Party withdrew the whip from him last night, removing his right to sit as a Tory in the Lords.

Eric Sussman, the lead prosecutor, told the judge: “Even under the most conservative estimate of the sentencing guidelines, Mr Black is facing between 15 and 20 years.”

Black, a leading figure in conservative circles, controlled 600 titles including The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Jerusalem Postand the Chicago Sun-Times and named luminaries such as the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle to his board. He and his wife became significant figures on the London social scene, throwing Alist parties at their house in Cottesmore Gardens, Kensington, West London.

The jury of nine women and three men took twelve days to convict Black on three blatantly fraudulent business deals included in the indictment, as well as obstruction of justice. A total of $6.4 million (£3.2 million) was embezzled from shareholders in the three deals, of which $3.5 million went directly to Black.

In one deal, the money was paid as a bogus “noncompete” fee by a company that was in fact a subsidiary of the newspaper group run by Black, effectively paying himself not to compete with himself.

In the other two deals, Black took a “noncompete” fee even though he never signed a “noncompete” agreement. He was also found guilty of obstruction of justice, having been caught on CCTV carrying 13 boxes of documents out of his Toronto office during multiple investigations in 2005.

Each fraud charge carries a maximum of five years and the obstruction count carries a top term of twenty years. Sentencing will take place on November 30.

Black was allowed to remain free on bail until a hearing on Thursday. But the judge restricted him to the court district of Northern Illinois and confiscated his passport and immigration paper. He told the judge that he planned to go to the Chicago suburb of Wheaton.

Edward Greenspan, his Canadian barrister, said he would appeal. “We came here to face 13 charges in the indictment,” he said. “Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges. We vehemently disagree with the government position on sentencing.”

Black was acquitted of the most serious charge of racketeering and of three “perks” charges related to the use of company money for a 60th birthday party for his wife and a flight on the corporate G4 jet to the Pacific island resort of Bora Bora. Jurors found him not guilty of buying a company flat on Park Avenue, New York, for below market price. Three codefendants were each convicted of three counts of fraud.

Given just 30 minutes’ notice of a verdict, Black, a notorious late riser, arrived in court five minutes late, after all his co-accused, in a tan suit with his hair still damp from a shower. He swaggered to the defence table, sitting down with a grimace. He was accompanied by Lady Black, his British-born second wife, and his daughter, Alana. During the first break in the hearing, they rushed to huddle with Black but neither kissed or embraced him.

Black’s lawyers fought to save his beach-front mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, placed on the market last year for $32 million, from forfeiture.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the chief federal prosecutor in Chicago, said that he was very satisfied. “It is very simple: if you are going to take liberties and break the law with other people’s money, there are going to be consequences,” he said.

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