Barford out in the cold: as grand jury probes, Charter puts operating exec on 'leave'. (Top of The Week).(David Barford of Charter Communications)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, October, 2002 by Higgins, John M.

What has the grand jury found? By placing Executive Vice President David Barford on "paid leave," Charter Communications' CEO Carl Vogel may be signalling that he wants to distance the company from its top operating executive in the midst of a criminal investigation into its accounting practices.

Since federal prosecutors running a St. Louis grand jury subpoenaed Charter in August, execs have minimized the investigation's impact. Wall Street observers say Charter execs privately characterize prosecutors as overreacting in an Enron-charged climate. The inquiry initially centered on whether Charter was inflating its subscriber counts, but it's not dear where prosecutors have gone from there. Though perhaps not a repeat of the scandal at Adelphia, the...

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