Rigas' Defense Challenges Ex-Adelphia Exec

NEW YORK -- A defense lawyer continued Thursday to raise questions about the credibility of a former Adelphia Communications Corp. director, the government's second witness in the fraud trial of the company's founder and two of his sons, The Associated Press reported.

Under cross-examination, Dennis Coyle conceded that he and other board members supported significant raises for three of the defendants -- former top Adelphia executives John, Michael and Timothy Rigas -- after he learned the family's businesses had drawn more than $2 billion in off-balance-sheet debt.

Earlier this week, Coyle said he was "shocked" when he learned during an audit committee meeting on Feb. 28, 2002, that Adelphia would likely be liable for roughly $2.3 billion in debt drawn by the Rigases. The board endorsed giving the three Rigas executives raises about during a March board meeting in Cancun that year, Coyle testified.

At the end of that month, Adelphia disclosed the off-balance-sheet debt to the public, triggering an accounting scandal and lending crisis that drove the company to seek bankruptcy protection a few weeks later.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 3/12/04