U.S. says dying Adelphia founder should be released from prison

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:12pm EST

U.S. says dying Adelphia founder should be released from prison

NEW YORK

John Rigas, the Adelphia Communications Corp founder, is dying of cancer and should be freed from prison so he can live his remaining months with a son in Pennsylvania, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

According to a court filing, Rigas, 91, suffers from terminal Stage IV bladder cancer with metastases to the lungs, with a life expectancy of six months or less.

Rigas is likely to die before he otherwise becomes eligible for release in January 2018, and federal probation officers have approved an early end to his 12-year prison term, the filing said.

Rigas was convicted in 2004 for looting Adelphia, once one of the largest U.S. cable television operators, and hiding its financial condition.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-adelphia-rigas-idUSKCN0VS2S9

[Eugene]

1. Judge Orders Cable Company Founder Released From Prison

Source: Associated Press

Judge Orders Cable Company Founder Released From Prison

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Feb 19, 2016, 7:57 PM ET

A federal judge in New York has agreed to release from prison the dying 91-year-old founder of one of the nation's largest cable television companies.

Judge Kimba Wood signed an order Friday saying Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas can be released early.

She was responding to a written request for early release by prosecutors. Rigas is serving a 12-year sentence in a $1.9 billion looting and debt-hiding scandal that led to the collapse of Adelphia.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-orders-cable-company-founder-released-prison-37069065