Conrad Black: Stay in a Holiday Inn? You must be joking

The Blacks are camping out in the city's Ritz-Carlton. But a weekend break in Palm Beach is only a jet ride away...

On the eve of the opening statements in his trial for fraud, racketeering and obstruction of justice, it has emerged that Conrad Black is making few concessions to a more modest, jury-friendly lifestyle.

He and his wife, whose expensive lifestyle is at the centre of the case, are staying at Chicago's most opulent hotel for the duration of his trial in the city. The fallen press baron, who has had many of his assets frozen by the US courts and been required to put up $21m bail, is holed up with his wife, Barbara Amiel-Black at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the heart of the city's luxury shopping district.

The hotel boasts some of the most sumptuously furnished guest suites in Chicago, including marble bathrooms with deep-soak tubs, and there is a "Premier Level" of oversize rooms and suites whose long-term users reportedly include Oprah Winfrey. Guests "enter an enclave of refreshing beauty, timeless elegance, and unparalleled personal attention", the hotel brochure claims.

The couple checked in last week under an assumed name, and are keeping a low profile. None of the guests or staff the IoS spoke to over the weekend had seen them. However, the hotel was accepting parcels addressed to Lord Black. Lady Black accompanied her husband to court for jury selection last week, and the couple have been joined in Chicago by daughter Alana Black, from his first marriage.

With the jury scheduled to sit from Monday to Thursday, Lord Black told a Canadian journalist earlier this month that he would probably take weekend breaks in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has a beachfront mansion. One businessman, a finance industry executive from New York who was staying at the Ritz-Carlton for business meetings in Chicago, said it was unrealistic to expect Lord Black to suddenly don sackcloth and ashes. "Where do you expect him to stay? In a Holiday Inn or something?"

Meanwhile, David Radler, who was deputy chairman and chief operating officer of Lord Black's Hollinger International, has agreed to pay £14.8m to settle civil fraud charges. In a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Radler, who will appear as a witness for the prosecution, will pay a fine and restitution to shareholders. The SEC, which accused Lord Black and Radler of looting the company of £40m, said the fine was one of the steepest it had imposed in recent years on an individual.

Lord Black's media empire gave him access to the salons of the rich, powerful and famous in London, Toronto and New York, and he once owned more than 600 newspapers. These included prestigious titles such as The Daily Telegraph in the UK, The Chicago Sun-Times in the US and the Jerusalem Post, and he also dominated the media in his native Canada. But he is accused of diverting $84m (£43.2m) from the coffers of the publicly quoted media company he controlled, Hollinger International, to fund the lavish lifestyle that he and his wife enjoyed. He faces 14 counts of fraud, racketeering and obstruction of justice.

The peer's lawyers are continuing their strategy of harrying the prosecution on every legal point, and spent Friday trying to edit slides that prosecutors plan to show jurors as part of their opening arguments.

They plan to show diagrams that will help the jury to understand the complex structure of Lord Black's media empire and to illustrate the roles of other key players, including David Radler, who has agreed a plea deal that will see him give evidence against the peer. Edward Greenspan, Lord Black's attorney, tried unsuccessfully to get a picture of the two men talking to each other struck out of the slide show. "They look like two co-conspirators sharing a secret," he complained to the judge, Amy St Eve.