Crooked peer Black goes free on $2m bail

He walked free from the minimum security prison in Coleman, Florida, after serving two years and four months of a six-and-a-half-year sentence for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

Setting his bail conditions during a hearing at a Chicago court on Wednesday, judge Amy St Eve ordered Black not to leave the country. She said the former owner of the Daily Telegraph must attend court today to hear further conditions of his release.

Black was freed after businessman and friend Roger Hertog posted the bail. His lawyers asked that he be allowed to return to Canada, where he owns a home in Toronto.

But the judge said he must remain in the US and not try to obtain a passport.

Black's lawyer, Miguel Estrada, said his client did not have a passport but had been issued with an ID by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

He said Black was likely to return to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, after his release.

The 65-year-old peer was granted bail on Monday by the Court of Appeals, pending an appeal against his conviction for fraud and obstruction of justice.

The decision came after a US Supreme Court ruling weakened the "honest services" law, which was central to the case brought by prosecutors.

It will now be left to a lower court to decide whether his conviction should be overturned.

The former head of the Hollinger International media empire was convicted with three other former executives of defrauding shareholders out of $6.1m.

He was also convicted of obstruction of justice after he was seen carrying boxes of documents out of his offices, loading them into his car and driving away. The documents were being sought by US government investigators.