Despite the defense's success in getting a reduced sentence, Bloomberg reports that former cable MSO Adelphia founder and chairman John Rigas and son Timothy Rigas will be staying in jail for the foreseeable future. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York upheld the prison sentences of the Rigas' role in the Adelphia Communications accounting debacle.
Previously, a court found both John and Timothy Rigas guilty of 18 counts of fraud and conspiracy in 2004--the allegations arose amid a major accounting scandal at the cable MSO. At the conclusion of that initial five-month trial, U.S. District Court judge Leonard Sand handed John Rigas a 15-year sentence, while Timothy Rigas got 20 years in federal prison. After an appeals court ruled in 2007 that the Rigas' were guilty on all counts except for one count of bank fraud, the farther and son asked that they both receive new sentences. A federal judge last year reduced John Rigas' sentence to 12 years and Timothy Rigas' down to 17 years.
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- Multichannel News has this article
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