Judge Hears Rigas Appeal For Resentencing

At a resentencing hearing in Manhattan on Thursday, an attorney for imprisoned Adelphia Communications founder and former CEO John Rigas and his son, former Adelphia CFO Timothy Rigas asked US District Judge Leonard Sand to reevaluate their sentences. The Rigases participated in the hearing by video hookup from prison. Both were convicted of securities fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy in 2004; John Rigas, now 83, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Timothy Rigas received a 20 year sentence. The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld their convictions on 22 of 23 counts in May 2007; they began serving their sentences last August, and the US Supreme Court in March 2008 rejected their appeals without comment (earlier). But the Second Circuit reversed their conviction on one count of bank fraud, citing insufficient evidence, which led to the resentencing hearing.

Attorney Lawrence McMichael argued the reversal of the single count was due to a substantive error and therefore all counts should be reevaluated. He also asked the court to consider new sentencing rules and new evidence from civil proceedings that has come to light since the original trial. However, Judge Sand said the reversal was on a lesser count of bank fraud and not the bigger conspiracy charge, and he has already rejected a motion to reconsider based on new evidence. He could choose to let the sentences stand since the reversed count was being served concurrently; McMichael asked for both sentences to be reduced to only 12 months. Judge Sand declined to rule immediately, indicating that he would publish a written decision in the coming weeks. But he stated, “There’s no acceptance of any responsibility for what occurred at Adelphia, and I don’t think that’s an overstatement. I think the defendants are in total denial, and that’s very disturbing” (Reuters ).