Witnesses open new angle in case

Private jets were used to deliver Christmas trees and eggs, a witness said.
NEW YORK (AP) -- In the trial involving Adelphia Communications Corp., there were no tales of corporate excess that quite matched the $2 million Roman-theme birthday party made infamous in the more publicized case of Tyco International Ltd.
But there was plenty of fodder for the scandal sheets: a $6,000 Christmas tree, eggs delivered by company jet, an executive who flew a B-list television star on a corporate jet to a hockey game.
The government rested its case against Adelphia founder John Rigas and his two sons on Tuesday after 10 weeks of testimony about an alleged scheme to hide $2 billion in debts from investors of Adelphia, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company with 5.3 million cable subscribers.
Prosecutors allege Rigas, 79, and sons Michael and Timothy -- bachelors who live with their parents on the family estate in Coudersport, Pa. -- reduced the company to their "private piggy bank." The defendants claim that, at worst, they were guilty of lapses in judgment.
John Rigas, a military veteran and former movie theater owner, struck it rich by investing in the cable industry in its infancy. A short man with silver hair and a quick smile, he has projected the image of a protective patriarch.
Witnesses' testimony
The government's case has relied largely on dry testimony about an alleged conspiracy by Rigas and his sons, both former Adelphia executives, to manipulate stock prices and line their pockets by distorting financial data. But a handful of witnesses have broken the monotony.
George Cretekos, who managed a private fleet of jets that made 1,000 flights a year, said the trips included deliveries of eggs, paper towels and toilet paper to John Rigas' daughter, Ellen, he said.
"Were you aware of any business purpose for these egg deliveries to New York?" asked prosecutor Christopher Clark.
"No, I was not," Cretekos said.
About $6,000 was spent on flight time devoted to delivery of two Christmas trees from Pennsylvania to the daughter's New York home in 2000. The second tree was flown in after her husband "objected to the [first] tree because it was too short," Cretekos said.
Prominent on the list of frequent fliers was Peta Wilson, sultry star of cable's "La Femme Nikita." She told jurors that Timothy Rigas sent a jet to take her home from the Caribbean so she could star in an opening ceremony at a hockey game of the Rigas-owned Buffalo Sabres.
The actress also was treated to trips to Los Angeles and Jamaica. Asked if she was ever required to pay, she said, "I think I may have tipped the pilots."
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