A lawyer who was asked to deposit $4.5 million into Lord Conrad Black’s bank account told the court that he had refused to do so, because he did “not feel comfortable wiring money to individuals I did not know from Adam’s house cat.”

A lawyer who worked for Community Newspaper Holdings when it was buying newspapers from Hollinger International, Tom Henson, was giving evidence in the fraud trial of Lord Black and three other former executives.

He said that on the day the deal between Community Newspapers and Hollinger International closed, he was asked to send a total of $9.5 million in non-competition payments to the personal accounts of Lord Black and three other executives.

He said he understood the last minute request had come from David Radler, a former partner of Lord Black who has already pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.

However, Mr. Henson said he declined to make the payments, saying that the initial contract for the sale had not included the personal payments.

Mr. Henson said that Community Newspapers had only agreed to non-compete payments to Hollinger International itself and its parent company Hollinger Inc.

Asked whether he had at any point asked for the individual non-compete agreements and personal payments to be included in the sale documents, he replied that he had not.

Lord Black, Peter Atkinson, John Boultbee, and Mark Kipnis are all accused of fraudulently pocketing money from the sale of newspapers which prosecutors say should have gone to Hollinger shareholders. All four deny the charges.