Former media tycoon Conrad Black has been hit with new charges in the US probe into the alleged looting of his corporate empire.

This time, it's for tax evasion, according to the latest reports.

Black, who has also been ordered to forfeit a 26-carat diamond ring he bought for more than $2.6 million and assorted antiques and jewels that he purchased for more than $600,000, is the next big fish to go on trial following the convictions of Enron's Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Black's trial is due to start next March.

True to form, his lawyers dismissed the new charges as grandstanding.

"It has been our position from the very outset that the prosecutor has a weak case and that we will be vindicated at the trial. Adding even more unfounded charges doesn't make the prosecutor's case any better," his lawyer Edward Greenspan told the media.

Still, it's good to know Black is earning some pocket money working as a columnist for the National Post , the paper he set up in Canada.

And true to form, it insists he's done nothing wrong.

"His career as a publisher and financier has been interrupted by a controversy that has resulted in his being indicted for fraud and related offenses in the United States. He has described the charges against him as unfounded and scurrilous. He looks forward to a complete acquittal and vindication and the full resumption of his financial career."

Some interruption!