Conrad Black is not going down without a fight. And when it comes to chutzpah, this guy is hard to beat.

Last week, he put up a motion asking for an acquittal or new trial on the grounds that the US Government had not proved its case.

Legal experts say he has a snowball's chance in hell because Judge Amy St Eve had run a very good trial with tight proceedings and had virtually made it appeal proof.

Mind you, Black also seems to have his mind on a few other things, besides being sent to the slammer for fraud and obstruction of justice. He is about to launch his 1200 page book Richard M Nixon: A Life In Full . No doubt, a felony conviction might help book sales.

But the thing that impressed me was how the man managed to turn out 3000 words a day when he had the prospect of a jail sentence and financial ruin hanging over his head. Where would he find the time?

But Black says it's no big deal. "You don't have much to do when you're being persecuted by prosecutors. You take calls from lawyers and discuss how to respond to certain things, but it doesn't take that much time," he said. "