Hollinger International Inc.'s former president, David Radler, the company's ex-lawyer and Conrad Black's private holding company were indicted on federal fraud charges in the U.S. Thursday.

U.S. attorneys said Radler, Mark Kipnis and Ravelston Corp., which controlled Hollinger's global publishing empire, are accused of diverting $32 million from shareholders through "self-dealing transactions."

Black has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Radler, who lives in Vancouver, is expected to plead guilty. He has reportedly agreed to testify in continuing investigations.

He and Black have been close business associates for years. Together they built a media empire that once included The Daily Telegraph, in England, and Canada's National Post.

"The investing public has a right to expect that officers and directors of publicly traded companies are managing, not stealing, the shareholder's money,'' said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

All three defendants were charged with five counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. They will be arraigned in federal court in Chicago at a later date.

The U.S. Attorney's office has been investigating the activities of both Black and Radler while they were senior executives of Hollinger International.

John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University, told CTV he thinks prosecutors are "following the standard playbook, the same one they used at Enron and WorldCom."

WorldCom's CEO, Bernard Ebbers, was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year on conspiracy and fraud charges. The key evidence in his trial was given by Scott Sullivan, who was Ebbers' right-hand man.

Experts say prosecutors could be setting up Radler to do to Black what Sullivan did to Ebbers.

Civil fraud charges were launched against Black and Radler in November by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It accuses the two men of using Hollinger International as "their personal piggy bank." Those allegations haven't been proven in court.

At the end of July, the U.S. Attorney's office filed court documents saying "the government's criminal investigation of the SEC defendants is progressing with all due diligence."

The U.S. Attorney's office asked a U.S. federal court judge to delay for two months the disclosure of a secret document in part to avoid impairing the government's ongoing criminal investigation.

The Attorney's office asked that the document be kept secret until Oct. 1.

U.S. prosecutors have said they are investigating Black and Radler on allegations of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and interstate transportation of funds obtained by fraud.

Prosecutors have said in court documents that charges might be filed under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.

With files from CTV's David Akin and The Canadian Press