A confidential, pre-sentence report could give Conrad Black a jail term decades shorter than the one prosecutors demanded in his fraud case held in Chicago earlier this year, The Australian reported Thursday.

The report, prepared by a probation officer, limits the extent of the former media baron's fraud to US $6.1 million, rather than the US $32.15 million estimated by prosecutors.

The former head of Hollinger International, now Sun-Times Media Group, only received about US $3 million in illegal funds, according to the defence, according to The Australian.

Black is currently out on bail and staying at his home in Florida.

The report will push for the judge to sentence Black to about five years in prison, rather than the 24 to 30 years the prosecution is seeking.

Black is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10. He was convicted on three of six fraud charges, as well as one count of obstruction of justice, in July.