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In a bid to have their fraud conviction overturned, John Rigas and his son Timothy, formerly of cable giant Adelphia, had their appeal rejected by a federal appeals court on Thursday.

The charges of bank conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and securities fraud were upheld by the court.

Prosecutors argued that the Rigas family had used Adelphia "as their personal piggy bank, withdrawing millions of dollars to finance everything from 100 pairs of bedroom slippers for Timothy Rigas to more than $3 million to produce a film by John Rigas' daughter, Ellen, to $26 million on 3,600 acres of timberland to preserve the view outside the father's home."

It seems all of this came about because the Rigases were trying to keep the company in the control of the family after it was taken public. They had to buy a share for every share they issued to raise money to keep control.

As a result, they borrowed funds to pay Adelphia when they asserted it was their own cash, and then used cash from Adelphia to pay off some of their family debts.

The only options left are to be review by the whole 2nd Circuit court or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

While the father and son have been free on bail, with the ruling they may be requested to start serving their sentences. John Rigas, at 82 years of age has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, while son Timothy was sentenced to 20 years.

Jeff Riedel