Rigas, Adelphia's founder and former chairman and CEO, and his sons Timothy and Michael, face federal conspiracy charges as well as securities, bank and wire fraud charges. They each face up to 100 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines if convicted on all counts.
Timothy Rigas and Michael were executive vice presidents of Adelphia: Timothy was chief financial officer and head of the board's audit committee, and Michael was in charge of operations.
The former vice president of finance, James R. Brown and the former director of internal reporting, Michael C. Mulcahey were arrested in Pennsylvania on the same charges.
Adelphia filed a racketeering lawsuit Wednesday against founder John Rigas, his three sons, Tim, Michael and James, son-in-law Peter Venetis, Brown and Mulcahey. Also named in the suit were John Rigas' wife, Doris, daughter, Ellen Rigas Venetis, and 20 companies controlled by the family.
The suit, filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York, charges the Rigases and other former executives with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act breach of fiduciary duties, waste of corporate assets, and abuse of control, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, fraudulent conveyance and conversion of corporate assets.
In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the five men named in the criminal complaint. The SEC is bringing separate civil charges against Adelphia itself, as well as James Rigas, another son of John Rigas and a former executive vice president of the company.
Adelphia, the nation's no. 6 cable company, filed for bankruptcy protection in June after months of turmoil in which the company ousted the Rigas family from its board and s ...