Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman serving a 6 1/2-year prison sentence for mail fraud and obstructing justice, lost a request for review of his case by a U.S. appeals court.

A three-judge panel in Chicago declined to reconsider its June 25 decision affirming a federal jury's 2007 conviction of Black and three other former Hollinger executives for stealing $6.1 million from the newspaper publishing company.

``All of the judges on the original panel have voted to deny the petition,'' the court said in an Aug. 13 ruling. None of the court's 11 active judges sought a full-panel rehearing, it said.

Black has until Nov. 12 to ask the U.S. Supreme Court for review, according to his lawyer, Andrew Frey.

Black, 63, helped found Chicago-based Hollinger, now Sun- Times Media Group Inc., working with former President David Radler to create what was once the world's third-largest English- language newspaper publisher. Prosecutors indicted Black and Radler in 2005, accusing them of stealing money between 1998 and 2001 while they engineered assets sales of more than $3 billion.

Radler, who pleaded guilty to fraud, was the chief prosecution witness. Black and the other former executives were convicted of mail fraud on July 13, 2007, after a four-month trial. Black was also found guilty of obstructing justice.

``It's disappointing, but there it is,'' Frey said of the ruling in an interview today. Asked what was next, he replied, ``probably the Supreme Court.''

All of the executives except Radler had appealed, arguing that U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who presided over the trial, made erroneous rulings tainting their defense.

The case is U.S. v. Black, 07-04080, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Chicago).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew M. Harris at the federal courthouse in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 21, 2008 15:32 EDT