IntroductionThe purpose of this article is to discuss how the leadership of Adelphia Communications, specifically the Rigas family, violated the trust of the public and its investors through unethical and illegal business practices. First, a synopsis of the Adelphia scandal will be presented. Next, a brief overview of ethics and how it applies to maintaining good business and public trust will be discussed. After the overview of ethics, notes on deontology and Kant's categorical imperative will be discussed. Finally, business practices and ethical issues related to the Adelphia scandal will be analyzed using Kant's deontological framework and categorical imperative. Adelphia ScandalAdelphia Communications is a company specializing in telecommunications, including cable television and Internet services, founded in 1952 by John Rigas. On 1 July 1986 the company was listed on the stock exchange. Its new public status meant it was now required to comply with new regulations, which included filing auditor-approved annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and establishing a board of directors. While these new regulations were put in place to protect the company's new investors and the company itself, we will see that these regulatory requirements have not prevented shady business practices that have ended badly for the company and decimated public trust. After going public, Adelphia began to grow rapidly, becoming the world's sixth largest cable company in the United States in 2002, the same year the company was hit by scandal. With the influx of capital, Rigas expanded its business and acquired new investors. At the time of the scandal, Adelphia's annual revenue was $2.9 billion and had 5.5 million subscriptions... mid-paper... Stuart, I. (2009). Restoring trust in auditing: Ethical discernment and the Adelphia scandal. Journal of Management Control, 24(2), 183-203. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from ProQuest. Feiser, J. (2009). Ethics. Encyclopedia of philosophy on the Internet. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/#H2Johnson, Robert, "Kant's Moral Philosophy," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) , URL =Pecorino, P. (2000). Chapter 8: Ethics, the categorical imperative. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%208%20Ethics/Categorical_Imperative.htmSevenoaks School. (2009-13). Introduction to ethics. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.sevenoaksphilosophy.org/ethics/deontology.html