Black was found guilty of three fraud charges and obstruction of justice. Jurors found him not guilty of nine charges. All three codefendants were convicted of the same fraud counts.

Black and two other men were accused of stealing $60m ( 43.5m) from Hollinger, once the world's thirdlargest publisher of English-language newspapers. Prosecutors said the money was disguised as fees for not competing with buyers of about $3bn of newspapers Hollinger sold.

"The government overcame a very shaky start to win this case, " said Jacob Frenkel, a former US federal prosecutor now in private practice. "They were able to pull a rabbit out of the hat."

Black and the other men were convicted by a jury of nine women and three men in Chicago on Friday after a 15-week trial. The jury resumed deliberations on the orders of the judge after saying it couldn't reach unanimous verdicts on all 16 charges against the four.

Black faces 20 years in prison on the most serious counts against him.

Convicted with him were former Hollinger vice president Peter Atkinson and ex-chief financial officer John Boultbee. A fourth defendant, former general counsel Mark Kipnis, was accused of helping the three men to steal the money.