Former Adelphia chief, 80 gets 15 years for looting

John Rigas, 80 founder of Adelphia Communications, was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison for looting the cable television company and lying to investors. His son Timothy, former chief financial officer, received 20 years.

The sentence were stiff by historical standards for white-collar crime and are an ominous sign for other former executives awaiting sentencing. These include Bernie Ebbers, former Worldcom chief, who is to be sentenced next month for directing an $11bn (£6bn) accounting fraud, and Denis Kozlowski, former head of Tyco, convicted of looting the conglomerate.

Robert Mintz, a former prosecutor who practices at McCarter & English, said of John Rigas’ punishment: “It’s a very severe sentence that will likely amount to a life sentence for the defendant. The judge is sending a message in the strongest possible terms that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated”.

The Rigases will have to serve at least 85 per cent of their terms. Addressing the elder Rigas yesterday, Judge Leonard Sand said he would have imposed a harsher sentence if not for the defendant’s age.

Mr Rigas said: “If I did anything wrong, I apologise.”

The father and son were convicted in July of using Adelphia as their “personal ATM”, tapping it for $50m in improper cash advances and to buy $1.6bn in securities.

The crimes contributed to the collapse three years ago of Adelphia. Most of its assets were acquired this year by Time Warner and Comcast for $17.6bn.

The Rigas coincided with tougher guidelines passed by Congress that ask judges when sentencing to consider the number of victims harmed by a financial crime and the dollar value of their loss.

Although the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing must be left to the judge’s discretion, the defence bar says the guidelines contributed to stiffer punishments. Prosecutors cited the guidelines to argue last month that the Rigases each deserved 215 years.