Adelphia Communications

In the March of the early 2000s, Adelphia officials was charged with stealing on what could be classified as a “grand scale” event. Around that same time, the company

Verizon Wireless officially entered into the communications market on April 4, 2000. A joint project of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, Verizon Wireless is the self-proclaimed leading supplier of wireless communication in the United States, offering service in more places across the country than any other service provider. While Verizon Wireless did not begin corporate operations until 2000, its history can be traced back many years.  The company’s roots can be traced to two distinct companies: Bell System and General Telephone & Electronics Corp. (GTE). Verizon Communications was formed on July 27, 1998, from a merger of

The mergers that formed Verizon were among the largest in U.S. business history, culminating in a definitive merger agreement, dated July 27, 1998, between Bell Atlantic, based in New York City, and GTE, which was in the process of moving its headquarters from Stamford, Conn., to Irving, Texas.

big corruption cases involving the burgeoning post-New Deal bureaucracy, and was aimed at the civil service. But by its

Between the years 2000 and 2002 there were over a dozen corporate scandals involving unethical corporate governance practices. The allegations ranged from faulty revenue reporting and falsifying financial records, to the shredding and destruction of financial documents (Patsuris, 2002). Most notably, are the cases involving Enron and Arthur Andersen. The allegations of the Enron scandal went public in October 2001. They included, hiding debt and boosting profits to the tune of more than one billion dollars. They were also accused of bribing foreign governments to win contacts and manipulating both the California and Texas power markets (Patsuris, 2002). Following these allegations, Arthur Andersen was investigated for, allegedly,

At first glance this appears to be to another post-Enron big corporation fraud scandal. It was one of the first big cases tried after Enron. However, there are significant differences from Enron and WorldCom scandals Unlike other corporate fraud cases involving executives, John Rigas never sold stock or received stock options (Lowenstein). Where Enron and WorldCom executives appeared to be doing their best to flee their sinking ships, the Rigas family made no such move.

On August 2, 2007, the U.S. District Court in Houston entered final judgments in the Commission's civil action against Jerry K. Castleman, a former Enron executive and accountant, and Kathleen M. Lynn, a former Enron executive. The Commission filed a complaint against Castleman, Lynn and others stating that they had participated in a transaction that defrauded Enron's security holders to enrich themselves and others. Included in the complaint, was disclosed that they were involved in a sham sale pursuant in which Enron manufactured earnings and then repurchased the asset without reversing the earnings that they had originally purchased improperly. Some of the security law violations include filing materially false and misleading financial statements

Telstra have dominated the telecommunications market for over a century by providing integrated services with vast geographical coverage. Telstra’s main areas of expertise are providing telephone, mobile, internet services and its 3G network to households and businesses across Australia with 9.2 million fixed line services and 9.7 million mobile services. Telstra have strived to be number one in their industry and achieve ultimate customer satisfaction (Telstra website 2009).

For my weekly journal, I decided to talk about Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. This act was established in 1970 by the congress to prevent organized crime in the United States. One of the cases that I found online talks about two companies Allstate Insurance Company and Providence chiropractic office. Providence Chiropractic violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act so Allstate Insurance Company decided to sue them. Allstate Company accused them for misrepresenting medical records to lift insurance claims. The owner submitted false bills looking for installment for treatment that was never provided. Allstate claims that the three women that were involved in this crime intentionally and

are mediocre with this. I feel they lay off too many people. They think profit

John Rigas, patriarch of the Rigas family and founder of Adelphia Communications Corporation (Burke, Harrington, & Leonard, 2002), began life as the son of Greek immigrants in Wellsville, N.Y. (Rigas, 2006). Rigas moved to the small town of Coudersport, Pennsylvania and in 1952, along with his brother Gus, bought a local cable franchise for $300 (Funding Universe, n.d.). Adelphia, Greek for “brothers”, was born (Burke et al., 2002).

The major ethical question that the Adelphia Communications case raises is: by lying and stealing, did the Rigas family act in a morally despicable way that caused public distrust or were their actions morally acceptable in order to prevent

On March 15, 2005 former CEO of WorldCom, Bernard Ebbers sat in a federal courtroom waiting for the verdict. As the former CEO of WorldCom, Ebbers was accused of being personally responsible for the financial destruction of the communications giant. An internal investigation had uncovered $11 billion dollars in fraudulent accounting practices. Later a second report in 2003 found that during Ebber’s 2001 tenure as CEO, the company had over-reported earnings and understated expenses by an astonishing $74.5 billion dollars (Martin, 2005, para 3). This report included the mismanagement of funds, unethical lending practices among its top executives, and false bookkeeping which led to loss of tens of thousands of its employees.

Strength: Amtelecom Communications is the sole provider of local telephone services in all of its exchanges and a leading provider of long distance and data services in the majority of his exchanges. As a sole provider of some services, Amtelecom Communications ensures the constant revenue and customers. Its subsidiary, Amtelecom Cable inc. has eight stand-alone systems exempt from licensing. The cost advantage ensures the leading position of Amtelecom Communications.

In 1952, John Rigas purchased his own cable company. By the late 1990's, he had turned it into the sixth largest cable company in the United States with 5.6 million customers. The business was always run as a family style business which led to fraudulent acts among family members and upper level executives. The family has been accused of stealing $3.1 billion from Adelphia and is now facing criminal charges. Adelphia was forced to file chapter 11 bankruptcy and as of April 24, 2004, the new board of directors made the decision to break up the company and sell it. The Adelphia scandal is morally wrong because the Rigas family coerced and exploited employees, harmed all stakeholders as well as stockholders, and