A US prosecutor accused media mogul Conrad Black of systematically “fleecing” shareholders out of more than $60m (€44.7m) and creating an elaborate paper trail to cover his tracks.

A federal prosecutor ripped into media mogul Conrad Black and other Hollinger International executives today, saying “they systematically stole €44m” from the shareholders and created a phoney paper trail to cover their tracks.

Jurors in the trial of former media mogul Conrad Black have been told to prepare for closing arguments next week.

Payments totalling $9.5m (€6.9m) that prosecutors say belonged to Hollinger International shareholders went instead to media mogul Conrad Black and four other executives, a company memo showed.

Australian football officials insist they have few concerns over crowd violence, despite being drawn today to face Lebanon in the preliminary rounds of the 2007 Asian Cup.