Buffalo Bandits owner John J. Rigas was arrested this morning for conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Rigas, his two sons, and two other former Adelphia Communications executives are accused of improperly using company assets for personal reasons, of keeping $2.3 billion (US) in company liabilities off Adelphia's books, and using $252 million in company funds to pay margin calls against loans the Rigases had received.

Among the alleged misuses of company funds were the financing of a $13 million golf course on Rigas' property, expansion of cable company holdings, timber investments, and various luxury purchases; and the issuance of personal loans.

Rigas, founder of the Coudersport, Pa.-based cable company and, until May, its chairman and chief executive officer, is also the owner of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, which he is alleged to have purchased with company money, although the league has taken over control of that team and is expected to sell it.

The Bandits are also on the market because of the allegations against Rigas, and while attempts have been made to tie the sale of the lacrosse team to that of the Sabres, it is uncertain if the Sabres' buyer would take the Bandits.

The uncertainty surrounding the Bandits has led the National Lacrosse League to prepare for the possibility that the team may request a one-year suspension of operations.

In addition to the elder Rigas, former chief financial officer Timothy Rigas, former executive vice president Michael Rigas, former vice president of finance James Brown, and former director of internal reporting of treasury functions Michael Mulcahey were arrested and charged in the complaint.

The complaint accuses the Rigas family of "using the company as the Rigas family's personal piggy bank at the expense of public investors and creditors."

"The scheme charged in the complaint is one of the largest and most egregious frauds ever perpetrated on investors and creditors," United States Attorney James Comey said.

The Rigas family took money from Adelphia "on a massive scale, using the company as the Rigas family's personal piggy bank, at the expense of public investors and creditors," United States postal inspector Thomas F.X. Feeney said in a separate filing made today.

Feeney accused the Rigas family of a "variety of deceptive and misleading accounting practices" and manipulating the company ledger "to create the illusion that Adelphia's financial condition and performance were substantially more favorable than they in fact were."

All five men were charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and two counts of bank fraud.

Upon conviction, each defendant could face 95 years in prison and fines of over four million dollars -- five years and $250,000 for each conspiracy and wire fraud count, ten years and $1 million for the securities fraud count, and thirty years and $1 million on each bank fraud count.