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NEW YORK - Prosecutors in the United States are planning to seize the Palm Beach mansion of Conrad Black as they pursue the proceeds of the frauds he committed while he was owner of The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers.
The peer was found guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice last month, triggering a US government request that he forfeit US$16.9m ((pounds sterling)8.4m) in ill-gotten gains.
Black used millions of dollars of illegal payments to fund renovations at the beachfront property in Florida, it is claimed.
The request to seize and sell the mansion was made in a court filing in Chicago, and the judge presiding over the case will rule on the issue alongside Black's sentencing in November.
The prosecution has indicated it could ask for a jail term of more than 15 years.
Black is currently on US$21m bail and must stay either in the Chicago area or in Palm Beach, and has been barred by the judge from travelling to his native Canada for fear that he may fight extradition rather than return for sentencing.
The US government is also asking to seize the proceeds from the earlier sale of Black's luxury apartment in New York, which it claims was also renovated using money illegally diverted from Hollinger International, the newspaper group that Black founded.
He was ousted as chairman in 2004 after an investigation by shareholder representatives found he and his associates had used Hollinger as if it were a personal piggy bank, using the company to fund his lavish lifestyle and looting the company of a total of US$400m.
A jury found that about US$32.2m of that money was taken in outright fraud.
His lawyers have said there will be an appeal against the convictions, and have argued in the past that the government is overstating the amount that Black profited from the frauds.
Black and two other Hollinger executives - Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson - who were convicted with him are jointly liable for the US$16.9m the government wants returned, according to the court filing.
Mr Atkinson's California home is also on the list of assets that will be forfeited if the government's request is accepted.
A fourth defendant, the Hollinger lawyer, Mark Kipnis, was also found guilty on three fraud charges.
- INDEPENDENT
