Adelphia Communications Corporation

John Rigas founded Adelphia Communications Corporation (“ACC”) in 1952 for $300. The company was fittingly named Adelphia, Greek for brother, as it employed generations of Rigas family. Skip ahead twenty years; Adelphia officially became incorporated. Roughly ten years later, John Rigas bought out his brother Gus’ stake, and his three sons became employees of Adelphia. His son-in-law was also the head of the board of directors. This positioned the Rigas family into all of the senior executive

Aldo Toomepuu 1 November 2015 ACG 6936 The Adelphia Debacle Some have been ensnared in the net of excessive debt. The net of interest holds them fast, requiring them to sell their time and energies to meet the demands of creditors. They surrender their freedom, becoming slaves to their own extravagance. ~Joseph B. Wirthlin Background 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

Running head: Forensic accountant 1 Forensic Accountant Dr. Gina Zaffino Bus 508, Contemporary Business 11/16/2012 Running head: Forensic Accountant 2 Determine the most important five (5) skills that a forensic accountant needs to possess and evaluate the need for each skill. Be sure to include discussion regarding the relationship between the skill and its application to business operations. Although forensic accounting is not a new field, it has become more talked

Firstname Lastname Instructor’s Name Course Number 20 July 2015 Adelphia Communications Adelphia is the 6th biggest cable television provider in the United States and, with various subsidiaries, gives services of cable television and local telephone service to customers in 32 states and Puerto Rico. Adelphia means "brothers" in Greek. It used to be one of America's largest cable companies. John Rigas established the company and served as CEO and chairman. John's son Tim was CFO, and Tim's brothers

The Adelphia Scandal The Dawn of Adelphia Adelphia was founded in 1952 by John Rigas and his brother Gus Rigas in Coudersport, Pennsylvania with the purchase of their first cable franchise for $300. After 20 years, the Rigas brothers incorporated their company under the name Adelphia which derived its name from a Greek word which means brothers, an apt corporate title for a business that would employ generations of the Rigas family. Adelphia was a cable television company and built its success

John Rigas and the Derailment of Adelphia Communications 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). John

It is possible that if laws and punishment was more severe perhaps less white collar crime would be committed. I think the punishment in the Rigas case was fair. While it may seem light, the law was followed. The Rigas family no longer owns Adelphia and they are serving time in prison. At Mr. Rigas’ age it could very well be a life sentence. One ethical issue that comes to mind is the money John Rigas took from the company to support a lavish lifestyle. All the while he was concealing a huge

Known fraud at the company can be divided into three general categories according to the SEC complaint (SEC v Adelphia Communications Corp, 2005). The first is hiding debt in unconsolidated subsidiaries. Adelphia entered into co-borrowing credit facilities with various Rigas family owned businesses which they are jointly liable for the entire amount borrowed. Adelphia management kept this liability off the books by allocating the co-borrowing loans among its unconsolidated subsidiaries. Debt

financial scandals at Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth, AIG, Adelphia Communication and Cable and more. As the scandal came to light people did not play the stock market if they believe that the stock prices were rigged.” Weygandt, Kimel, Kieso (2012) researched that; “the United States

so did the family’s extravagant lifestyle. But, unbeknownst to investors and regulators, Adelphia was paying for most of it (Beebe & Michel, 2002). John built the family home on a large plot of land he named Wending Creek. Although it was considered a commerical farm, Wending Creek’s primary source of income was the $2 million a year it received for performing general maintenance and landscaping for Adelphia offices (Beebe & Michel, 2002). The company also paid $26 million for the 3,600 acres adjacent