A federal judge yesterday ordered the founder of the Adelphia cable TV company, John J. Rigas, and his son Timothy J. Rigas to report to prison on Aug. 13, nearly three years after they were convicted in one of the largest corporate frauds in United States history.
Both men had been free on bail while they appealed, but Judge Leonard B. Sand of the United States District Court in New York said the time had come for the two men to start paying their debt to society.
''Too much time has elapsed,'' he said.
Neither John Rigas, 82, nor Timothy Rigas, 51, reacted visibly to the judge's order.
A federal appeals court had cleared the way for the pair to begin serving time in May when it upheld all but one count of their convictions on multiple charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.
John Rigas was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Timothy Rigas, the company's former chief financial officer, was sentenced to 20 years.
The next step in the case will be for the federal Bureau of Prisons to decide where they will serve time.
Prosecutors at the trial said the Rigases had concealed nearly $2.3 billion in Adelphia debt from stockholders, making the company look good even though its finances had became dangerously overextended.
They also accused the family of using the company as their personal A.T.M., withdrawing millions of dollars.
Last year, another son, Michael J. Rigas, was sentenced to 10 months of home confinement after pleading guilty to a charge of making a false entry in a company record.
The sentencing judge, citing the elder Mr. Rigas's poor health, had previously said his term might be cut short if he serves at least two years.
The Adelphia Communications Corporation, founded in Coudersport, Pa., was one of the country's largest cable television companies before its collapse in 2002.
The Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner, have since purchased Adelphia's cable assets.
Re: In the jail house now
Member #: 51045
Registered: 2/19/2007
Posted:
212
Name:
Paul M. Rowe
Name:
Paul M. Rowe
Company:
Media Synergy Group
Occupation:
Mergers & Acquisitions
Location:
Tampa, Florida
Personal:
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