FACTBOX-Key facts about Conrad Black

(Reuters) - Five facts about toppled media magnate Conrad Black:

* Born in Montreal on August 25, 1944, he turns a 1969 investment of several hundred dollars in two small Canadian newspapers into what became the world's third-largest English-language newspaper empire with such marquee titles as the Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post.

* In 1994 Black marries British-Canadian journalist Barbara Amiel. Beginning in the 1990s Black and partner David Radler start to reduce debt by selling off the media empire they built and controlled at Hollinger International Inc. in deals worth billions of dollars.

* In June 2001, Black is forced to renounce his Canadian citizenship so he can accept a lifetime seat in the Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour, named for the neighbourhood near the Daily Telegraph building, an honour that traditionally goes to the paper's owner.

* Black resigns as head of Hollinger in November 2004, after institutional investors raise questions about transactions at Hollinger. In August 2005, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicts Black and three former associates on fraud and other charges, alleging they stole millions from Hollinger by keeping for themselves certain payments that should have gone to Hollinger and its investors.

* Black and the others plead not guilty but Black's long-time partner Radler makes an agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty in September 2005, to one count of fraud in exchange for a 29-month sentence. Black and the others undergo a trial in Chicago that lasts nearly 15 weeks before it goes to the jury.