Adelphia execs appeal to Supreme Court

Adelphia execs appeal to Supreme Court

	Published : Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:25 By : Agencies Print this Story

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son, the defunct cable company's chief financial officer, have appealed their fraud convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Rigas, 82, was sentenced to 15 years and Timothy Rigas, 51, to 20 years for their roles in Adelphia's collapse. They were convicted in 2004 on multiple charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.

In an appeal filed Wednesday, they asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision that affirmed their convictions, said Lawrence McMichael, their Philadelphia-based attorney, who is not representing them in the case. In July, they also filed a motion for a new trial.

John Nields, the Washington-based attorney representing the Rigases in the appeal, did not immediately return a telephone message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Prosecutors claimed the Rigases made Adelphia's finances appear more robust when they were in fact dangerously overextended by concealing nearly $2.3 billion of the company's debt.

In a decision upholding their convictions, the appeals court said the family looted more than $200 million from Adelphia, spending the money on personal expenses that ranged from $3 million to produce a film by John Rigas' daughter to $6,000 to fly two Christmas trees to New York.

Another of John Rigas' sons, Michael Rigas, also received 10 months of home confinement after pleading guilty to making a false entry in a company record.

Adelphia was the country's fifth-largest cable television company before its collapse in 2002. At its peak, it served more than 5 million customers in 31 states. Its stock value was nearly entirely erased after the company disclosed its off-balance-sheet debt.

The company eventually filed for bankruptcy, severed its ties with the Rigases, and moved its corporate headquarters from Coudersport, Pa., to Greenwood Village, Colo.

Comcast Corp. in Philadelphia and Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner Inc., have since bought Adelphia's cable assets.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan did not immediately comment on the appeal.