Adelphia Ex-Exec to Plead Guilty

Adelphia Communications Corp. former Vice President Michael Rigas is expected to plead guilty today and avert a retrial on securities fraud charges, a court official said Tuesday.

Rigas, 51, is scheduled to enter his plea with U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York, said the judge’s law clerk, Andrew Woolf. Jurors deadlocked at Rigas’ trial last year but convicted his father, former Chief Executive John J. Rigas, and brother, Timothy J. Rigas, the former chief financial officer, of conspiracy and securities fraud.

Court records do not indicate what crime Rigas will admit to. The former executive faces as many as 10 years in prison if convicted on any of the 15 fraud charges against him.

Prosecutors said the Rigases looted Adelphia and lied about its finances before the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002. Michael Rigas’ retrial was scheduled for Jan. 9 on charges of signing false debt compliance statements, securities purchase agreements and regulatory filings. Prosecutors also accuse him of approving false news releases.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Atty. Michael J. Garcia declined to comment, as did one of Rigas’ attorneys, David Feldman.

After the first trial, nine jurors said they had favored acquitting Michael Rigas. Prosecutors do not intend to retry him on two bank fraud charges, but he still faces 15 securities fraud counts.

Adelphia founder John Rigas, 81, was sentenced in June to 15 years in prison. Timothy Rigas, 49, received 20 years.

Both are free on bail while they appeal their sentences by U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand.