Supreme Court Rejects Rigas Appeals

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected without comment the appeals of Adelphia Communications founder and former CEO John Rigas and his son, former Adelphia CFO John Rigas. Both were convicted of securities fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy in 2004. The charges arose out of Adelphia’s 2002 collapse into bankruptcy after the company revealed $2.2 billion in previously unreported liabilities. John Rigas, now 83, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Timothy Rigas received a 20 year sentence. They appealed, claiming that accounting terms had not been properly explained to the jury and that they had followed generally accepted accounting principles; but the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld their convictions last year and they began serving their sentences last August. AP/Washington Post story here.