Disgraced former media baron Conrad Black has asked a Chicago judge to throw out a verdict reached in July that found him guilty of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He is asking for a new trial.

'There is scant and questionable direct evidence supporting the government's case and the evidence leaves open plausible theories of innocence.' —Court papers filed Monday in Chicago on behalf of Conrad Black

The Montreal-born Black, who upbeat U.S. prosecutors said could finally be classified "a convicted felon" after last month's verdict, had his lawyers file a motion with a Chicago court late Monday, saying it "would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand."

In an e-mail response to The Canadian Press Monday night, Black said he had confidence in the motion's chance for success and addressed his whereabouts while awaiting his sentencing, scheduled for Nov. 30.

"I am fine thank you, and enjoying my house in Palm Beach," he wrote. "I remain optimistic."

According to the court documents, Black's defence lawyers want to challenge the July 13 ruling, saying that the evidence during the course of the trial "preponderates heavily against the verdict."

"The Court must consider the weight of the evidence, and must grant a new trial if that evidence preponderates heavily against the verdict, such that it would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand," the documents said.

Black's defence team has requested that Judge Amy St. Eve grant their client a new trial, "taking into account the credibility of witnesses."

'Unsupported, incredible testimony'

The U.S. government — with star prosecution witness and former Black chief lieutenant David Radler — alleged Black, 62, devised a scheme to improperly divert $60 million US to himself, Radler, and three co-defendants — Mark Kipnis, Jack Boultbee, and Peter Atkinson — largely through non-compete payments in the sale of hundreds of Hollinger-owned U.S. and Canadian community newspapers .

Non-compete payments are common in the industry but prosecutors say the money belonged to shareholders.

The filing specifically names Radler and suggests that it was only Radler's "unsupported, incredible testimony" that linked Black to the disputed payments.

"The alleged telephone calls on which the government's case rests were undocumented, and even Radler himself could not remember them in detail," the documents said.

During the 15 weeks of testimony in Chicago earlier this year, Black's legal team tried to discredit Radler, portraying him as a convicted felon who struck a "sweetheart deal" with U.S. prosecutors to testify against Black in exchange for a reduced sentence for himself.

Canadian cases prejudiced jury

Radler, Black's second-in-command at newspaper company Hollinger International, had pleaded guilty to one count of fraud ahead of the trial in exchange for a $250,000 US fine and a lenient sentence.

Radler's sentencing has been set for Dec. 10.

In the post-trial motion filed Monday, other issues that Black's lawyers took issue with included:

• St. Eve's instruction to the jury to reject an "ostrich defence," or a wilful blindness to illegal activity that is clearly taking place. Black's lawyers said Monday that St. Eve's disallowance of the ostrich defence "was improper."
• St. Eve's refusal to allow the defence to call Radler back to the stand again to undergo more cross-examination about his deal with the prosecution team.
• St. Eve's decision to let the jury hear about outstanding Canadian civil cases involving Black. His lawyers said the Canadian investigations into his dealings prejudiced the jury.

"There is scant and questionable direct evidence supporting the government's case and the evidence leaves open plausible theories of innocence,'' the legal paper says.

Black was initially charged with 14 counts of mail and wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and racketeering. Along with his three co-defendants, he was found guilty of three counts of fraud. Black was also convicted of one count of obstruction of justice. He had maintained his innocence and had vowed to appeal.

Co-defendants also ask for new trial

In a separate motion for acquittal, Black's lawyers reasserted their previous claims that the government failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and had produced no real evidence the former press baron had attempted to obstruct justice by removing 13 boxes of documents from his Toronto offices despite a court order sealing the premises.

"At best, the government showed it was possible that Mr. Black intended to obstruct a government proceeding by removing documents. But the defence provided an innocent explanation for Black's behaviour that was at least as plausible, if not far more likely to be true," his lawyers said.

Boultbee and Atkinson also filed motions asking for a new trial or an acquittal Monday, accusing the government of failing to present the case it promised to put forward.

"The government represented to the court that it would prove a conspiracy of which Boultbee was a member and, on the basis of that representation, the court admitted an enormous amount of otherwise inadmissible and highly prejudicial hearsay evidence against Boultbee," his lawyers said.

"The government not only failed to prove such a conspiracy; it never tried."

With files from the Canadian Press