NEW YORK (AP)- Four former executives ravaged Adelphia Communications Corp. “like their own ATM machine,” driving it into bankruptcy and covering their tracks with lies, a prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments at their fraud trial.

Prosecutor Christopher Clark cited lavish examples of how he said the men spent looted cash – including 17 cars, a golf course and $6,000 on two Christmas trees . Meandering around the federal courtroom and pointing at each defendant – Adelphia founder John Rigas, his sons Michael and Timothy and another company officer – Clark told jurors the men had robbed investors of life savings.

“Everyone knows it’s wrong to lie, ladies and gentlemen,” Clark said at the start of closing arguments expected to last more than a week. “Everyone knows it’s wrong to take someone else’s property.”

The Rigases and former assistant treasurer Michael Mulcahey are accused of hiding more than $2 billion in company debt and stealing with gusto from company coffers.

The Rigases, who went public with the cable company in 1986, doctored financial filings to present a “pretty picture” of “small-town trustworthiness” for investors, Clark said.

Defense lawyers have contended the men are guilty of nothing more than lapses of judgment. Each defendant could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, bank fraud.

The fraud allegations, revealed in the summer of 2002, drove the company into bankruptcy. Adelphia has since moved its headquarters from Pennsylvania to Colorado and now operates under bankruptcy protection.

Testimony at the trial, which opened in March, has included eye-popping examples of alleged corporate looting.

A golf professional testified that Timothy Rigas hired her to help clients with golf swings, including a company-paid $7,000 junket to the famed Pebble Beach course in California.

A man who managed a fleet of private jets told jurors that items he was hired to deliver to John Rigas’ daughter included eggs, paper towels, toilet paper and even a pair of Christmas trees.

Mulcahey, the only defendant to take the witness stand, defended the use of company money to invest in golf courses, saying it helped impress clients. He also defended loans the company made to John Rigas of up to $1 million a month, saying the loans went to a man who had spent 50 years building the company.

Clark was to continue his closing argument Thursday and was to be followed by arguments from lawyers for each defendant – a process expected to last well into next week.

AP-ES-06-16-04 1944EDT