Adelphia Communications

Founded by brothers John and Gus Rigas in 1952, Adelphia Communications Corporation eventually became the dominant cable provider in southern Florida, western New York, and Los Angeles. In addition to cable entertainment, the publicly traded firm offered high-speed Internet access, long-distance telephone service, digital cable, home security, and paging. The company was admired for its aggressive growth and was recognized for industry leadership. By the early 2000s, Adelphia was one of the largest cable television companies in the United States, and John's sons, Michael, Tim, and James, were executives and members of the board of directors at Adelphia.

Adelphia filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in June 2002, shortly after the Rigas family executives resigned their positions. The events leading to ...