He may soon have to adjust to prison cooking, but Conrad Black, the disgraced former press baron, has been dining in style during a “goodbye tour” of friends in Palm Beach, where he has been awaiting his sentencing by a Chicago court tomorrow on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice.

Black was spotted last weekend with his wife Barbara Amiel and four other people at Chez Jean-Pierre, the best French restaurant in one of the most opulent resorts in America.

He was also the guest of honour at a small farewell party at the Breakers hotel, where guests play croquet beside an extravagant Italian Renaissance-style building modelled on the Villa Medici in Rome. His host was reported to be Seth Lipsky, a conservative New York newspaper editor who has invited Black to contribute articles from his cell.

Black is expected in Chicago tomorrow to hear Judge Amy St Eve hand down a sentence that most US legal commentators believe will be between four and 10 years. The judge will also decide whether he can remain free on bail pending his appeal, which may take a year to be heard.

Despite speculation that his attacks on the US legal system and his failure to show any form of contrition may provoke a longer sentence, Black continues to portray himself as an innocent man who has been persecuted by US authorities.

In e-mails to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Black declared himself ready for a life behind bars, and likened himself to Martha Stewart, Michael Milliken and other American celebrity convicts who rebuilt their lives after going to jail. “Prison would be a bore but quite endurable,” he said. “I don’t consider it shaming.”

US prosecutors have urged the judge to consider a tougher sentence because of Black’s lack of remorse. They filed details last week of Black’s recent BBC interview with John Humphrys, in which he claimed he had done “absolutely nothing” wrong. The prosecutors claimed that Black had “demonstrated contempt for the judicial process and this jury’s verdict”.

The Chicago jury cleared Black of racketeering and other fraud charges but convicted him of skimming millions of dollars from shareholders in his Hollinger media empire. Confined by the judge to the Chicago area and his mansion in Palm Beach, Black has been visited by a small group of loyal friends including Andrew Roberts, the British historian - who declared him to be on “splendid, bull-moose form” - and Lipsky, editor of the New York Sun, which Black helped to launch.

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