Trump Brings Razzmatazz to Black Trial

The flamboyant billionaire, Donald Trump, is expected to take the stand in defence of embattled media mogul Conrad Black in a celebrity twist likely to catapult the peer's trial into a media circus.

Reports in the US media suggest Mr Trump is flying to Chicago to give evidence as early as tomorrow. The New York Post suggested that hype surrounding his appearance is likely to create "bedlam" around the city's Dirksen federal courthouse.

The star of the American version of The Apprentice will testify about an infamous $62,869 birthday party for Lord Black's wife, Barbara Amiel, at the New York restaurant, La Grenouille, in December 2000.

Lord Black charged $42,869 of the cost to his Hollinger media empire as a "business expense" which, according to American prosecutors, amounted to fraud.

Mr Trump was a guest at the star-studded party, where he rubbed shoulders with revellers including New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, the Dame Edna Everage actor, Barry Humphries, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and perfume heir Donald Lauder.

The diners tucked into Beluga caviar, lobster ravioli and beef gnocchi. The bill included $13,000 for wine at prices of up to $320 a bottle.

Mr Trump is likely to tell the jury that he considered the event to be a business engagement. At the time, he was negotiating to buy an office block from Hollinger, which housed the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, in order to redevelop it as luxury apartments.

His testimony will contradict the views of several prosecution witnesses. The former US ambassador Richard Burt, renowned economist Marie-Josee Kravis and Lord Black's former business partner, David Radler, all told the court they viewed the event as social - and that they were unaware Hollinger was partly paying for it.

Mr Trump has cropped up several times during testimony. A government witness disclosed that Lord Black had organized for Mr Trump to speak up for him at a Hollinger annual meeting at a time when criticism was mounting among shareholders about excessive payments to senior executives.

To date, Lord Black's trial has been followed closely in Britain and Canada - but in the US, where the peer is little known, there has been minimal interest. Mr Trump, however, is likely to be greeted by a scrum of television cameras.

In a sign of confidence that the former Telegraph owner will be acquitted, the peer's defence team are set to spend little more than a week laying out their case - compared to a full ten weeks of government witnesses.

Last week, Lord Black's lawyers called his long-serving personal assistant, Joan Maida, who admitted under cross-examination that she had mailed out T-shirts to admirers bearing the slogan "Conrad will win".

Lord Black is accused of plundering some $60m (£30m) from Hollinger through a series of controversial "non-compete" payments and unusual expense claims.

The peer's co-defendants - Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis - will set out their defence over the coming weeks.

The jury is expected to be sent out by the end of June.