80-year-old John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications, was sentenced to 15 years, though he may get less due to how old he is. With John Rigas being so old, the judge said his sentence could potentially be cut short as long as he does two years, and doctors say he has less than three months to live.
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Adelphia prosecutors had accused the Rigases of using complicated cash-management systems to spread money around to various family-owned entities and as a cover for stealing about $100 million for themselves.
They were accused of spending the money on a lengthy list of personal luxuries. Prosecutors said John Rigas had ordered two Christmas trees flown to New York for his daughter at a cost of $6,000, ordered up 17 company cars and had the company buy 3,600 acres of timberland at a cost of $26 million to preserve the view outside his Pennsylvania home.
The Rigas family has already agreed to pay $1.5 billion of its assets to settle fraud charges. This makes up 95% of the family's total assets, and includes real estate, bonds, and cable-television systems. The company will still have about $45 million is assets.
Back in 2002, Adelphia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has since agreed to be acquired by Time Warner and Comcast for $18 billion.
Chris is a staff writer for latest ebusiness news. 
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