Freedom's over: Black ordered to prison Monday

APPEALS COURT | Bid to remain out on bond rejected

A federal appeals court Thursday denied former newspaper baron Conrad Black's request to remain free on bond while appealing his fraud conviction and ordered him to go to prison Monday.

Black, 62, convicted of defrauding the shareholders of his Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire, had sought to delay the start of his 6 1/2-year sentence, saying he had a good chance of winning on appeal. Hollinger International was renamed Sun-Times Media Group, owner of the Sun-Times.

Black is to report by 2 p.m. Monday to a federal correctional center at Coleman, Fla., to start serving his sentence. Black also must pay $6.1 million in restitution.

The appeals court left open the possibility it might overturn some counts on which Black and two co-defendants had been convicted, saying they had raised ''substantial issues.''

But it suggested there was less chance of reversing the one count on which Black was the only defendant convicted -- obstruction of justice.

At trial, jurors were shown a video of Black carrying boxes of documents out of his Toronto office, although they were not supposed to be removed because investigators thought they might be evidence.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did allow Black's two co-defendants, Peter Y. Atkinson and John Boultbee, to remain free on bond while appealing their sentences. They were not charged with obstruction.

Black's appeals lawyer, Andrew L. Frey, said he was ''surprised and disappointed'' at the ruling.

''But I still retain a substantial level of confidence that we will prevail,'' Frey said. ''This was just one preliminary round.''

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment, spokesman Randall Samborn said.

Black was convicted of siphoning money out of Hollinger International and disguising the amounts he received as ''noncompete payments.''

AP