Adelphia Founder and Son Sentenced After Five Months

Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas was finally sentenced yesterday after a five-month trial. He received a sentence of 15 years for using millions in company money for personal use, and lying about finances. 80-year-old Rigas and his son, former Adelphia CFO Timothy Rigas, were convicted last year of conspiracy and securities fraud and were responsible for the bankruptcy of the company. Timothy received a sentence of 20 years. The prosecution was pushing for the two defendants to get a combined sentence of 215 years, but they didn't quite get that.

There were two other defendants involved in the case as well. One was Rigas's other son, Michael. The jury deadlocked on his trial, and his new one will begin in October. The fourth defendant was Michael Mulcahey. He was acquitted. As Jesus Sanchez of the LA Times reported, Prosecutors said the two also lied to banks to obtain large personal loans and used phony accounting to conceal $2.3 billion of debt from investors. They also made false public statements to mislead investors about the damage their looting was causing the company. Earlier this year, the Rigas family agreed to give up $1.5 billion in cable TV assets to settle securities and accounting fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. This makes up 95% of the family's total assets, and includes real estate, bonds, and cable-television systems. The company will still have about $45 million is assets. Back in 2002, Adelphia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has since agreed to be acquired by Time Warner and Comcast for $18 billion. Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.