Rigas Sentencing Delayed for Sixth Time

Sentencing for former Adelphia Communications Corp. executives Timothy and John Rigas has been postponed yet again, this time to June 13 at 3 p.m. (EST) in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The postponement was the sixth time sentencing has been delayed since the two were convicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and bank fraud last July. They were originally supposed to be sentenced Jan. 5.

The most serious of the charges against the Rigases -- bank fraud -- carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The jury deadlocked on securities-fraud charges against former Adelphia executive vice president of operations Michael Rigas in July. He is scheduled to be retried in October.

The delay comes just days after U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel approved Adelphia’s $715 million fraud settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, relating to the accounting scandal involving the Rigases.

Castel, who was overseeing the SEC case, was the last approval needed for the settlement -- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber and U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Sand signed off on the deal earlier.

In April, Adelphia agreed to sell its assets to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. for about $17.6 billion. That deal expected to close by the first quarter of 2006.