Cable company founder Rigas leaves prison in early release

Published February 22, 2016

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.

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.

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