Adelphia Communications: The Public Company That Became a Private Piggy Bank: A Case of Fraud in the Rigas Family Firm

John Rigas’s rags-to-riches-to-rags story began more than 50 years ago when he invested in his first cable endeavor in a small town in Pennsylvania. Several years earlier, his immigrant family had started a hot dog restaurant in Wellsville, New York, and, at age nine, John developed his first business skills there, cleaning tables. After service in the U.S. Army, which opened the doors to college through the G.I. Bill, Rigas graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and came back to Wellsville to work in the family restaurant.