CHICAGO (Bloomberg) — Jury selection in the fraud and racketeering trial of Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman, began with the questioning of 27 prospective jurors in a federal courtroom in Chicago.Black, 62, sat at a table with seven of his lawyers today as US District Judge Amy St. Eve started the process of choosing 12 people to judge him. He was accompanied into the courtroom by his wife, Barbara Amiel Black.

In response to questions, several of the prospective jurors said they had lost money in the stock market. Some suggested they may have a hard time believing that someone could earn tens of millions of dollars without stealing it.

“When I hear ‘tens of millions of dollars’, I shudder,” one woman told the judge.

Black is on trial with three other ex-Hollinger executives. They are accused of stealing almost $84 million from Hollinger as they engineered the sale of its assets from 1998 to 2001. All have denied wrongdoing. The trial is expected to last almost three months. If convicted, Black may spend the rest of his life in prison.

Once the third-biggest publisher of English-language newspapers, Hollinger International at its peak published the UK’s Daily Telegraph, Canada’s National Post, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Black led the company for eight years as its chairman and chief executive officer. He was forced to resign as CEO in November 2003 amid charges of corruption. Two months later, he was fired as chairman.

His fate will be decided by people living in Chicago and surrounding counties. The jurisdiction, the Northern District of Illinois, includes affluent suburbs and rural areas as well as the city.

St. Eve, 41, spent the first half of the day interviewing juror candidates. Several said they worried that the trial will interfere with jobs and childcare. No jurors were picked before the lunch break.

One candidate, who said his father is a retired police captain, told St. Eve he’d lost money invested in WorldCom Inc., which filed the biggest bankruptcy in US history after an accounting fraud was uncovered.

“This is not WorldCom and I don’t think you’re going to hear any evidence about WorldCom,” responded St. Eve, a former federal prosecutor who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush.

She cautioned the candidates that “there’s nothing wrong with making a lot of money”.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers can’t question potential jurors during this phase. All of the jurors have filled out questionnaires the judge can refer to during the selection process.

“Most people don’t receive tens of millions of dollars just for a job well done,” a juror candidate who was questioned today wrote in his questionnaire.

Black, who was made Lord Black of Crossharbour in 2000, is accused by prosecutors of using Hollinger as his “personal piggy bank.” He allegedly caused the company to pay for a vacation in Bora Bora, a 26-carat, $2.6 million ring for his wife and most of a $62,000 birthday party for her.

“Sometimes the corporations feel like they’re beyond the law,” one juror candidate said.