More Adelphia Papers in Question

Adelphia Communications Corp.’s former treasury supervisor continued to testify Monday that former Chief Financial Officer Timothy Rigas signed phony documents and that the company put up collateral for Rigas family margin loans.

James Helms testified that Timothy Rigas and former assistant treasurer Michael Mulcahey signed a receipt stating that a Rigas family partnership had wired Adelphia $396 million in “immediately available funds” to pay for convertible notes in January 2002.

In fact, Adelphia received no wire from the partnership, Highland 2000, on the date of the receipt, after it issued the notes to the partnership, Helms said.

Timothy Rigas is on trial with his father, former Adelphia Chairman John Rigas; his brother Michael Rigas, former executive vice president; and Mulcahey on charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy. They are accused of misleading creditors, investors and the public and enabling the Rigas family to “loot” Adelphia “on a massive scale.”

Last week, Helms testified that Timothy Rigas and Mulcahey signed receipts falsely stating that a Rigas family partnership had wired more than $400 million to pay for convertible notes and Class B stock in October 2001.

Helms also testified Monday that Adelphia wired $26.98 million to fund a land purchase in February 2000. An Adelphia attorney told him that the Rigases were buying the land for $456,000 and that the company was buying the timber rights for about $26.5 million, Helms said. The $26.5 million was funded from Adelphia’s cash management system, while the $456,000 was booked as a receivable, he said.

In their opening statement when the trial began, prosecutors contended that John Rigas never paid the $456,000 balance, as he had agreed to.

Helms also testified that Adelphia covered more of the Rigases’ margin loan expenses -- roughly $57 million in 2001 and 2002 on a Bank of America Corp. margin loan, and roughly $71 million starting in 2000 on a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. margin loan. Last week, Helms said that Adelphia wired about $78 million to Citigroup Inc.’s Smith Barney division to pay margin loan expenses for the Rigases.

Defense attorneys have contended that money Adelphia paid for Rigas personal expenses such as securities purchases and margin loan expenses were loans that the family was prepared to repay.

In response to questioning by a defense attorney, Helms said that Adelphia’s auditors, Deloitte & Touche, could have asked for internal documents that he alleges show Adelphia funded securities purchases for the Rigases.

“They’d have to ask specifically for something,” Helms said. “They did not have access to just go rummaging through my files, no.”

Helms is cooperating with the government in a deal for immunity from prosecution.