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NEW YORK - Bonuses at Wall Street firms climbed to a projected record of $21.5 billion last year as revenue grew, according to the New York state comptroller's office. Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Wednesday that 2005's bonus tally was $2 billion more than the old record, which was set in 2000. In 2004, Wall Street bonuses came to an estimated $18.6 billion. Last year's average bonus was pegged at $125,500, also a record, Hevesi said. Revenue at Wall Street firms rose 44.5 percent through the first three quarters of 2005, climbing to the highest level since 2000, the year when...

Former Worldcom Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers was handed a 25-year prison term for directing the biggest accounting fraud in corporate history, leaving thousands of investors empty-handed. Ebbers, who built a small Mississippi-based long distance company into a telecommunications powerhouse, was found guilty on March 15 on all charges — one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. But he could also be a charming and folksy CEO, who preferred cowboy boots to suits, opened shareholder meetings with a prayer, ate lunch in the cafeteria and ran a company that had become a...

NEW YORK (June 20) - A father and son are both going to prison for one of the largest frauds in corporate history. Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. His son, Timothy, has been given a 20-year sentence. The New York judge says John Rigas' age and health kept him from imposing a stiffer sentence. Rigas is 80 years old. The cable company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002 after it disclosed a staggering two (b) billion dollars in debt that had been kept off the books. Prosecutors say the Rigas family also stole...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Federal prosecutors extended a string of successes in their pursuit of white-collar crime, winning fraud convictions against Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas and his son Timothy. A Manhattan jury found the pair guilty Thursday of conspiring to hide $2.3 billion in debt at the cable company -- a crushing burden that drove it into bankruptcy in 2002 -- and loot it for their personal gain. They were also found guilty of securities fraud and bank fraud. Each man faces up to 30 years in prison on the bank fraud counts alone. A second Rigas...

Rich executives once courted by Bank of America Corp. are proving to be a big headache, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. In the last year, the bank has run into problems with loans made to executives such as Bernard Ebbers, Samuel Waksal and the Rigas family. Now, it appears a loan to another wealthy executive has resulted in a big financial hit. In the second and third quarters, Bank of America's private bank charged off $ 261 million in loans to a family investment firm controlled by Oklahoma telecommunications executive Everett Dobson, essentially declaring the loans uncollectible. Mr. Dobson was...

Each family member out on 10 million dollars bond each. They lose all of their homes and had to surrender 5,000 acres of land they own surrounding the Adelphia HQ, as well as surrender all passports and travel documents....aka..they should be put on suicide watch.