The jury weighing charges against two former Tyco International executives went back to work Monday after the judge rejected a defense request for a mistrial that was based on a furor over one juror apparently holding out for acquittal. Judge Michael Obus said he had spoken with the juror, a 79-year-old woman, and determined that she could continue to deliberate properly. The juror, Obus said, told him “that nothing that has happened will, from her point of view, prevent her from deliberating in good conscience with the other jurors.”

To help cover his cash needs, John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications Corp., had his former accountant charge the company for numerous fictitious rental guests and book a real-estate sale to the company that never closed, the accountant testified Monday. Christopher Thurner described how John Rigas repeatedly persuaded him to conduct transactions that Thurner thought were improper or fraudulent, once threatening his job. In one case, Thurner reluctantly agreed to lend Rigas $20,000 but was never repaid, he testified. Rigas is on trial in Manhattan on charges of conspiracy and fraud with two of his sons, Timothy and Michael, and former Adelphia vice president Michael Mulcahey. They have pleaded innocent.

A judge threw out a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. over Winnie the Pooh merchandise royalties, ruling Monday that the owner of those rights unlawfully obtained confidential documents from Disney offices and trash. Superior Court Judge Charles W. McCoy Jr. dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning Pooh rights owner Stephen Slesinger Inc. cannot sue again on the claim. The decision, if it survives appeal, brings to a close a 13-year legal bid by Slesinger, which sought to recover millions of dollars it claims Disney owes it for Pooh-related merchandise and royalties on the sale of video tapes, DVDs and computer software.

The Treasury Department sold three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.945 percent, up from 0.93 percent last week. Six-month bills were sold at a rate of 0.990 percent, unchanged from the previous week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 0.961 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,976.10 and 1.008 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,950.00. The Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, a popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, dipped to 1.17 percent last week from 1.18 percent the previous week.

From Herald news services