Conrad Black was compared to a bank robber yesterday as the US Government accused him of a “money-grab” at his newspaper empire.

Jeffrey Cramer, a federal prosecutor, told the jury that Lord Black of Crossharbour and his three codefendants had stolen $60 million (£30 million) from shareholders.

“Bank robbers wear masks and use a gun. Burglars wear dark clothing and use a crowbar. But these four men — lawyers and accountants — dressed in ties and wore a suit,” he said.

At one point, Mr Cramer turned and angrily addressed Lord Black, the former owner of The Daily Telegraph, directly as he sat at the defence table in the centre of the court.

But the fallen press baron, once self-assured but now ashen-faced, avoided the prosecutor’s gaze and stared ahead at the jury.

Lord Black, 62, faces up to 101 years in jail and $164 million in fines if convicted of 17 counts of fraud, money-laundering, tax evasion, obstruction of justice and racketeering.

He appeared in court in the same gunmetal blue suit he has worn for earlier hearings, escorted by his wife, Barbara Amiel, and his daughter from his first marriage, Alana.

Lady Black, dressed in the same hacking jacket and rust blouse she had worn the day before, offered no apology for her outburst on Monday in which she called a female Canadian television producer a “slut” and denounced journalists as “vermin”.

“It was a private conversation between me and my stepdaughter. I will not confirm or deny those words. They were about certain journalists and they know who they are,” she said. “I am here for more important things. I really am.”

Lord Black’s lawyer said that Lady Black may have been upset by the presence in court of two biographers that her husband had sued for libel.

The prosecution used charts to explain its claim that Lord Black and his fellow accused stole $60 million of shareholders’ money by disguising it as tax-free noncompete agreements during the sale of the company’s newspapers.

“You are sitting in a room with four men who stole $60 million and betrayed the trust of thousands of shareholders — four men who decided among themselves their six or seven-figure salaries were not enough,” Mr Cramer told the jury. Appearing puzzled by the financial details, the jurors sat up when Mr Cramer told them how Lord Black used a corporate jet for a holiday on the Pacific island of Bora Bora at a cost of $500,000.

He projected a slide of Lord Black’s US Customs declaration on returning to Seattle from French Polynesia, on which he had ticked “Personal” when asked the purpose of his trip. The prosecutor introduced an e-mail in which Lord Black, questioned about the jet, said: “I am not prepared to reenact the French Revolutionary renunciation of the rights of nobility . . . We are proprietors after all, beleaguered though we may be.”

Mr Cramer mocked Lord Black’s claim to be a “proprietor” when he was the controlling shareholder of a public company. “A proprietor is an owner. The shareholders own that company. The shareholders own the private jet. The shareholders just picked up $600,000 for his private trip,” he said.

Ed Genson, Lord Black’s lawyer, insisted that his client, the largest single shareholder in the company, was innocent. “He was not stealing from himself,” he said. “His company was stolen from him.”

Mr Genson said that Lord Black divided his empire geographically with his former right-hand-man, David Radler. He blamed Radler, who has struck a plea deal to testify for the prosecution, for the suspect deals. The trial continues.

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