Media baron Conrad Black signed a contract promising not to compete with a company he himself controlled, an ex-employee of his Hollinger International newspaper empire, who said she sent him a £1.35m (€1.99m) cheque in return, told a court.

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.

A businessman who steered Conrad Black’s Hollinger newspaper empire through a storm of lawsuits and investigations told a court that the former media mogul “was very knowledgeable” about the finances of the company he is accused of swindling out of £44m (€65m).

Former newspaper tycoon Conrad Black’s racketeering and fraud trial is getting under way in the US.

As chairman of the far-flung Hollinger newspaper empire, tall, silver-haired, magnificently tailored Conrad Black reigned supreme as one of the world’s most powerful media moguls.

Hollinger Inc, a Canadian holding company formerly controlled by ousted media magnate Conrad Black, has signed a deal to cooperate with the US Attorney’s Office in its criminal prosecution of the former Daily Telegraph boss and several others.

Conrad Black, the former owner of the Daily Telegraph, and three other executives have been charged with fraud in America involving the $2.1bn ($1.79bn) sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers and the abuse of company perks at newspaper publishing company Hollinger International.

FBI agents seized nearly €7.3m in proceeds from the sale of embattled media baron Conrad Black's apartment on New York’s Park Avenue.

Hollinger International chief Conrad Black, owner of the Daily Telegraph, agreed to resign today after admitting he and other executives had received unauthorised secret payments amounting to £19m (€27.19m).