Legal News

Should Prosecutors Go After Imprisoned Adelphia Fraudsters?

By Amir Efrati

John Rigas, the founder of cable company Adelphia, was convicted in 2004 by a New York federal jury of stealing billions of dollars from the company.

Rigas, pictured, has been in prison for more than two years. He isn’t scheduled to be released until 2018, according to the Bureau of Prisons. If he makes it that far, he would be 93.

But that might not be the end of it. After prosecutors in Manhattan convicted Rigas and his son, Tim, who was also a company executive, prosecutors from the middle district of Pennsylvania accused the men of evading more than $300 million of taxes, which stemmed from the same conduct.

Tim Rigas isn’t due to be released from prison until 2022, when he would be in his sixties.

On Wednesday an 11-judge panel from the 3rd Circuit appeals court in Philadelphia heard arguments by prosecutors as to why the men should be tried a second time. The Rigases have argued they were protected by the double jeopardy rule in the Constitution. Thankfully for us, the AP was there.

At the hearing, several judges seemed skeptical of the government’s two-trial strategy, the AP said. They noted that nearly every financial crime involves an underlying tax fraud because few criminals report illegal income. They worried that prosecutors could always get a second bite at the apple by bringing tax charges if they lose a fraud case.

“You essentially have it both ways,” Judge Julio M. Fuentes told prosecutors.

According to the AP, federal appeals courts are split on when double jeopardy applies in such cases, and the Rigases’ appeal has divided the 3rd Circuit. A panel voted 2-1 last year to have the district judge reconsider his decision to allow a second trial. Prosecutors then asked for an “en banc” review by all 11 appellate judges.

The government argued that the two Rigas indictments involve different victims, a point the trial judge in Harrisburg, Pa., noted in refusing to dismiss the Pennsylvania charges in 2008.

One of the federal prosecutors in Manhattan who convicted the Rigases told the Law Blog that even he was perplexed. “It's difficult to see a public interest in spending the government’s time and money to ensure that John Rigas stays in jail past his 93rd birthday,” said Chris Clark, who is now a defense lawyer at Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).