Cable company founder Rigas leaves prison in early release
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The dying 91-year-old founder of what was once among the nation's largest cable television companies has left prison, three days after a judge ordered his early release.
A lawyer for Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas says the former executive left a federal prison in Waymart, Pennsylvania, around noon Monday.
Rigas suffers from bladder cancer. Lawyer Larry McMichael said he was in good spirits.
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McMichael says Rigas was able to walk to the car on his own as he left the prison. His son and fellow inmate Timothy Rigas escorted him.
On Friday, a federal judge in New York signed an early release order for John Rigas. He had been serving a 12-year sentence in a $1.9 billion looting and debt-hiding scandal that led to the collapse of Adelphia.