[JURIST] Adelphia Communications [corporate website] founder John Rigas and his son Timothy were ordered Wednesday to begin serving their prison sentences on August 13th; the two men have been free on bail since their 2004 convictions as they appealed their case. Judge Leonard Sand of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said that because the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the fraud convictions [JURIST report] of the Adelphia executives last month, "the issue that led the court to grant bail pending appeal has now been clearly rejected." The Second Circuit threw out one count of bank fraud against the pair, but rejected most of the Rigases' grounds for appeal.

John and Timothy Rigas were convicted of numerous counts of conspiracy, 15 counts of securities fraud and two counts of bank fraud. In 2005, John Rigas, now 82, was sentenced [JURIST report] to 15 years in prison, while Timothy Rigas, now 51, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In November 2005, another son, Michael Rigas, pleaded guilty to falsifying a financial record [JURIST report] and was sentenced to ten months in prison under a plea agreement. Reuters has more.