“Newspaper magnate Conrad Black owns a chair that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. He owns a 1953 Rolls Royce and an 11-bedroom townhouse near London’s Kensington Palace,” wrties Elena Cherney in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“But figuring out who has been footing the bill for some of Lord Black’s other luxuries is proving frustrating for the lawyers and accountants scouring the tangled finances of Hollinger International Inc., his troubled newspaper company.”

“Company investigators want to know whether shareholders have paid for Lord Black’s lavish lifestyle, and their global treasure hunt has led them to two jets, three luxury homes, a staff of servants in Britain and an $8 million collection of photos, letters and memos that belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

“The search is part of Hollinger International’s effort to clean house in the wake of Lord Black’s hasty departure as CEO of the company that publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, London’s Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post. Lord Black, an imperious newspaper proprietor who climbed as high as the U.K.’s House of Lords, resigned as Hollinger International’s chief executive last week after a board committee disclosed that he and other top officials received unauthorized payments totaling $32.2 million.”

“These payments came on top of $180 million in various kinds of management and other fees the company paid Lord Black and other executives in recent years — all from an operation valued at less than $1.5 billion. Lord Black and his second-in-command, David Radler, have each agreed to return $7.2 million in payments relating to the unauthorized payments. The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an investigation, although its focus is unclear. The SEC has declined to comment and couldn’t be reached on Wednesday.”

“Lord Black has left behind a mountain of bills, checks and wire transfers for the team to sift through. But deciphering who paid for what isn’t so easy and is made even harder by the complicated relationship between Lord Black and the company he still controls through Toronto-based holding company Hollinger Inc. That publicly traded entity, whose primary asset is Hollinger International, is in turn controlled by Ravelston Corp., a closely-held holding company of Lord Black and others.”

“Hollinger International already is clamping down on Lord Black’s expenses. Last week, it closed his monthly tab at New York’s tony Le Cirque 2000 restaurant. Hollinger will also stop paying a portion of the cost of maintaining Lord Black’s Park Avenue apartment. Hollinger’s share was more than $100,000 last year, according to a company regulatory filing.”

“Lord Black bowed to shareholder pressure earlier this year when he stopped billing his company for a portion of the salaries he paid the staff of his London residence. Hollinger helped pay for Lord Black’s butler, chef, chauffeur and maid at the London townhouse, according to people familiar with the matter.”

” ‘The bottom line is we’re looking at all expenses in an attempt to rationalize overhead,’ says Paul Healy, vice president of investor relations for Hollinger International. ‘That’s what investors care about.’ The company has already put on the market one of two corporate jets and is planning to sell properties including a three-bedroom co-op apartment on Park Avenue — located in the same building as Lord Black’s own apartment — and a high-rise apartment above the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago.”