Posted on 08/24/2002 7:38:22 AM PDT by SBeck
NEW YORK -- A federal court hearing that was to be held Friday to consider fraud charges against five former executives of Adelphia Communications Corp. -- including founder John Rigas and two of his sons -- has been postponed until Sept. 23.
A magistrate judge in Manhattan granted a 30-day extension on the mutual consent of defense attorneys and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office.
The Rigases and two nonfamily former executives were charged last month in a criminal complaint with defrauding investors out of billions of dollars by using Adelphia as their "personal piggy bank."
Postponements of such hearings are typical and may not be significant. After a criminal complaint is filed, prosecutors have 30 days to advance the case with an indictment. In some cases, the parties may request delays if they are negotiating plea bargains.
Attorneys involved in the Adelphia case, however, said none of the defendants had been discussing guilty pleas.
"There are no plea discussion ongoing," said Lawrence Bader, an attorney representing Timothy Regis, Adelphia's former chief financial officer. "The defense lawyers and prosecutors need time to discuss the merits of the case."
In a court filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Coleman said the government needs to review information about the case that has been obtained from some of the defendants.
Attorneys for the other executives either weren't available or declined to comment on the delay.
Prosecutors last month accused John J. Rigas, Adelphia's 78-year-old founder and former chairman, and two of his sons of looting the nation's sixth-largest cable company of hundreds of millions of dollars in one of the largest cases ever alleging insider dealing. The elder Mr. Rigas and sons Timothy J. Rigas and Michael J. Rigas, the former chief financial officer and former operations vice president, respectively, were charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud.
Two other former Adelphia executives -- James R. Brown and Michael C. Mulcahey -- were also charged last month.
All of the defendants are free on bail or their own recognizance pending trial. Each faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge of bank fraud.
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