Conrad Black seeks release on bail pending appeal

CHICAGO — Former newspaper mogul Conrad Black is asking a federal judge in Chicago to release him from a Florida prison while he appeals his fraud conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court has agreed to hear Black's appeal of his July 2007 conviction on charges he siphoned off millions of dollars belonging to Hollinger International when he was chief executive of the media company.

But the Supreme Court refused to grant the 64-year-old bail.

Black filed his bail request Monday with U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, who presided over his trial. She set a July 10 hearing.

Black, a member of the British House of Lords, has served 15 months of a 6 1/2-year prison term at the federal prison in Coleman, Fla.