CHICAGO — Former media titan Conrad Black will be sentenced on fraud and obstruction convictions Dec. 10 after a Chicago judge on Thursday granted a defence request to postpone the sentencing from Nov. 30.

His lawyers had asked Judge Amy St. Eve for more time to prepare objections to pre-sentencing reports.

Black and co-defendants Mark Kipnis, Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson were convicted July 13 of three mail fraud counts for pocketing millions of dollars that prosecutors said belonged to shareholders of the former Hollinger International .

Black was also found guilty of obstruction of justice for removing boxes of documents from a Toronto office even though he knew federal prosecutors wanted them.

The defence asked for the delay to give Black's chief sentencing counsel, Jeffrey Steinback, who did not take part in the trial, time to review court documents.

Last week Black, once the head of one of the world's biggest media empires, lost a bid for a new trial when St. Eve ruled against a defence motion to reverse the jury's guilty convictions or to grant a new trial, citing a lack of credible witnesses, prejudicial evidence and faulty jury instructions among their complaints.

St. Eve said the government introduced "more than enough evidence'' to support all of the convictions but one mail fraud conviction of Kipnis.

Black's last remaining option for fighting the charges is a post-sentencing appeal.