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American Morning
Rigas Family Trial Begins Today
Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does a corporate crime trial start nearly every day, or does it just seem that way? It certainly does.
Andy Serwer is minding your business.
Good morning.
Good to see you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good to see you.
Good to see you.
COOPER: There's another trial starting today, this guy from Adelphia, Rigas.
SERWER: Right. That's right. We talked about this on your program, "Anderson Cooper 360." Is that shameless promotion right there?
COOPER: Is that the one that's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern?
SERWER: Yes, that's right. We're allowed to do that, right?
We talked about that. I told you, Anderson, 2004 was going to be the year of the trial resulting from this wave of corporate scandals we've seen over the past couple of years. And you're right, 79-year- old John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications out of Pennsylvania, and his two sons, Timothy and Michael, the trial begins today.
What's really amazing about this stuff, Anderson, is it's in the same complex as the Martha Stewart trial. It's down the street from the Dennis Kozlowski trial. We're going to get the WorldCom trial, which is going to be in the same place.
COOPER: They could all have lunch.
SERWER: And they're going to retry Frank Quattrone in the same place. So it's going to be a three ring, five ring, eight ring circus down there.
What happened, of course, with Adelphia is that these guys, the Rigas family, are accused of using the company as a personal piggy bank. We've heard this story before. About $2 billion they took out of the company, secured by company funds. And, surprise, surprise, they say they're completely innocent.
COOPER: But not all capable billionaires these days have sort of tarnished their image. I understand there's one guy who's actually giving away his money before he dies.
SERWER: Yes, in 2000, Jerry Lendfest (ph), again from Pennsylvania, sold his company to Comcast for $1.2 billion. He's 73 years old now. Now he wants to give it all away, every penny. He's given a little bit to his kids. So far he's given away $325 million to various charities, non-profits, really -- Washington & Lee University, Wilson College, also, the Philadelphia Art Museum, among many others. He wants to give away the remaining $700 million or so in his lifetime and these non-profits have to disperse the funds within 20 years.
So another sign of the story.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does a corporate crime trial start nearly every day, or does it just seem that way? It certainly does.
Andy Serwer is minding your business.
Good morning.
Good to see you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good to see you.
Good to see you.
COOPER: There's another trial starting today, this guy from Adelphia, Rigas.
SERWER: Right. That's right. We talked about this on your program, "Anderson Cooper 360." Is that shameless promotion right there?
COOPER: Is that the one that's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern?
SERWER: Yes, that's right. We're allowed to do that, right?
We talked about that. I told you, Anderson, 2004 was going to be the year of the trial resulting from this wave of corporate scandals we've seen over the past couple of years. And you're right, 79-year- old John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications out of Pennsylvania, and his two sons, Timothy and Michael, the trial begins today.
What's really amazing about this stuff, Anderson, is it's in the same complex as the Martha Stewart trial. It's down the street from the Dennis Kozlowski trial. We're going to get the WorldCom trial, which is going to be in the same place.
COOPER: They could all have lunch.
SERWER: And they're going to retry Frank Quattrone in the same place. So it's going to be a three ring, five ring, eight ring circus down there.
What happened, of course, with Adelphia is that these guys, the Rigas family, are accused of using the company as a personal piggy bank. We've heard this story before. About $2 billion they took out of the company, secured by company funds. And, surprise, surprise, they say they're completely innocent.
COOPER: But not all capable billionaires these days have sort of tarnished their image. I understand there's one guy who's actually giving away his money before he dies.
SERWER: Yes, in 2000, Jerry Lendfest (ph), again from Pennsylvania, sold his company to Comcast for $1.2 billion. He's 73 years old now. Now he wants to give it all away, every penny. He's given a little bit to his kids. So far he's given away $325 million to various charities, non-profits, really -- Washington & Lee University, Wilson College, also, the Philadelphia Art Museum, among many others. He wants to give away the remaining $700 million or so in his lifetime and these non-profits have to disperse the funds within 20 years.
So another sign of the story.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
