Conrad Black and his wife Barbara Amiel Black are seen in a June 19, 2007, file photo arriving at the federal courthouse during closing arguments in his fraud and racketeering trial in Chicago. (M. Spencer Green/Associated Press)

Conrad Black asked a U.S. federal judge Monday to release him from prison while he appeals his fraud conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The request followed a decision by the high court to turn down an earlier request for bail by the former media baron.

Black, 64, was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice by a Chicago jury in 2007.

A member of the British House of Lords, Black has been serving his sentence at the federal prison in Coleman, Fla., since March of last year.

"If he is released on bail and does not prevail on appeal, there is no question that he would complete his sentence," Black's lawyers wrote in the application filed with the Chicago court.

"While such an eventuality would force Mr. Black to wait another several months before this matter is behind him, society's interest in seeing him punished would not be frustrated in the least."

The trial court in Chicago has already agreed to bail for Black's co-defendant John Boultbee — whose case is being reviewed under the same decision.

Judge Amy St. Eve granted bail for Boultbee on a $500,000 US bond secured by his nephew until the Supreme Court makes a decision.

No filings can be made for co-defendant Peter Atkinson, who did not take part in the appeal.

The fourth co-defendant, Mark Kipnis, had been sentenced to house arrest and has no need to apply for bail.

Black was convicted of three counts of fraud relating to the years he headed the company Hollinger International and one count of obstruction of justice.

The filing Monday noted that the government's position in opposing bail was that "Black's conviction for obstruction of justice would likely survive if the Supreme Court rules in his favour and grants a new trial on the other counts."

Legal argument

However Black's lawyers argued the Supreme Court would likely reverse the obstruction conviction if it reverses the mail fraud charges because "it likely will conclude that Mr. Black was prejudiced on the obstruction conviction too."

The government's response is due July 6, with a motion hearing set for July 10.

The Supreme Court agreed to review the case last month and can now either leave the conviction in place, rule that one aspect of the case was flawed, or overturn it entirely.

Federal fraud

At issue is the reach of a federal fraud statute that was originally aimed at prosecuting public officials.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the convictions, but the county's appeals courts are divided on the central issue undergirding those convictions.

The Supreme Court probably won't hear arguments in the case until late this year and a decision is unlikely before late winter.

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

All of Hollinger's big papers except the Sun-Times have now been sold and the company that emerged changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.