Final arguments in Conrad Black's criminal fraud trial will start on Monday after the defence wrapped up its case this week when the one-time media baron and three co-defendants turned down a last chance to take the stand in their own defence.

The defence presentation, which lasted less than two weeks, was relatively quick compared to the 11 weeks prosecutors took to try to prove that the four men stole $60 million (€44.8 million) from Hollinger International, the company that ran Black's media empire.

With the jury not present, Judge Amy St Eve of the US District Court asked Black and the others whether they wished to testify, a formality that is part of the trial process.

"You understand if you choose not to testify that I will instruct the jury that you have the absolute right not to testify and that there is no inference of guilt?" she asked.

"I decline to exercise my right to testify," Black said.

His three co-defendants answered the same way.

Black's lawyers had never indicated whether he would testify, and in the end the man who has published four biographies as well as scores of eloquent e- mails that were read out during the trial did not take the stand in his own defence.

His lawyer, Edward Greenspan, declined to say why, but trial observers cited the risk of allowing prosecutors to grill the flamboyant tycoon.

In resting its case, the defence team cleared the way for final arguments in the trial, now in its 13th week.

The jury was dismissed until Monday when closing arguments begin.

They could last all of next week or beyond, before the case goes to the jury.

Black is charged with mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and causing Hollinger International to file false tax returns.

Canadian-born Black (62), now a British citizen and a member of the House of Lords, could face years in prison and heavy fines if convicted on all counts.

The other defendants - Jack Boultbee, former chief financial officer at Hollinger; Peter Atkinson, a former top executive and lawyer for Black's companies; and Mark Kipnis, Hollinger's former US lawyer - face lesser charges.

Prosecutors have accused the four men of engaging in a scheme in which they kept for themselves some non-competition payments from the sale of properties as they dismantled what had been one of the world's biggest media empires.

Such payments are set aside from the proceeds of sales of businesses to keep sellers from re-entering a market they have exited. However prosecutors contend the money that went to Black and the others should have gone to Hollinger International for the benefit of shareholders, who instead were kept in the dark.

Black is also accused of abusing corporate perks, namely a trip to Bora Bora on a company aircraft, paying Hollinger a below-market price for a New York apartment and charging the company for part of the cost of a lavish birthday party for his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, at a fancy New York restaurant.

The last defence witness presented to the jury was former FBI white collar investigator Alan Funk, who spent parts of two days testifying that the evidence available to company auditors did not indicate the payments in dispute were consistent with fraud.

Chicago-based Hollinger International has since been renamed Sun-Times Media Group.