Five executives of Adelphia Communications Corp. -- including former chairman
and founder John Rigas and two of his sons, former chief financial officer Tim
Rigas and former executive vice president of operations Michael Rigas -- were
arrested Wednesday by U.S. postal inspectors on charges of securities bank and
wire fraud, according to published reports.
The Rigases were indicted along with two other Adelphia executives -- former
VP of finance James Brown and director of international reporting Michael
Mulcahey. The Rigases were arrested in New York and Brown and Mulcahey were
arrested in Pennsylvania.
If convicted on all counts, the men face sentences of up to 95 years each and
millions of dollars in fines.
The U.S. Department of Justice was scheduled to have a press conference in
Washington, D.C., at 11 a.m. Wednesday. According to Cable News Network, the
Rigases were scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday in Manhattan.
Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection June 25, after it was revealed that
the MSO was on the hook for $3.1 billion in off-balance-sheet loans to
Rigas-family partnerships.
