5 Adelphia Execs to Help With Rigases Case

Five Adelphia Communications Corp. executives are helping prosecutors build a fraud case against indicted company founder John Rigas and two of his sons, people familiar with the matter said.

The executives cooperating with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan are Karen Chrosniak, director of investor relations; Luke Healy, regional budget coordinator; Doug Malone, director of external reporting; Dean Marshall, director of finance; and Tim Worth, director of accounting, people familiar with the case said.

Some of these executives may face criminal charges, the people said. None has been charged.

Former Chairman John Rigas and two sons--Timothy, the former chief financial officer, and Michael, former vice president of operations--were indicted Sept. 23 on charges of hiding debt, falsifying financial reports and concealing their use of company funds to buy stock and build a golf course. They pleaded not guilty.

Two other executives, James Brown, former vice president for finance, and Michael Mulcahey, former director of internal reporting, also were indicted in the case.

Adelphia, the sixth-largest U.S. cable-television company, filed for bankruptcy protection in June and has more than $20 billion of debt.

The SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Adelphia and the Rigases in July, alleging that they engaged in “one of the most extensive financial frauds ever to take place at a public company.”

“It’s important for the government to have eyewitness participants,” said Stephen Ryan, a former federal prosecutor.

“Law enforcement depends completely on their ability to find someone who was in meetings and can talk about these events and say what people said to one another,” Ryan said.