Conrad Black, who is serving a 6½-year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice in a Florida prison, has lost his bid to have a U.S. appeals court reconsider his case.

The former CEO of media empire Hollinger International, who lost an appeal of his conviction in June, had asked the Chicago-based court to review its decision to uphold his conviction and hold a so-called en banc hearing in which all the actively sitting judges on the court would reconsider the case.

Black and three other former Hollinger executives were found guilty of fraud in 2007 for funnelling $6.1 million US from the media company.

But in an order dated Aug. 13, the three judges who rejected the men's appeal two months ago shot down the request for reconsideration, saying "all the judges on the original panel have voted to deny the petition."

"None of the judges in regular active service has requested a vote on the petition for rehearing en banc."

After this latest refusal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the next step for Black is most likely the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hollinger International once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds of community newspapers across the United States and Canada.

The only large paper remaining in the company's stable is the Sun-Times, and the company has changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.

Co-defendants Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee, both Canadian former executives of Hollinger, received two years and 27 months behind bars, respectively. Chicago attorney Mark Kipnis, a onetime Hollinger employee, was placed on probation with six months of house arrest.