NEW YORK — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Adelphia cable TV company founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy Rigas, to report to prison Aug. 13, nearly three years after they were convicted in one of the largest corporate frauds in U.S. history.

Both men had been free on bail while they appealed, but U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Sand said the time had come for the two to start paying their debt to society.

Neither the 82-year-old Rigas patriarch nor his 51-year-old son reacted visibly to the judge's order, which had been expected. Both appeared downcast as they hugged relatives in a courthouse hallway after the hearing, and they declined to comment to reporters.

———

GUITAR CENTER ACCEPTS $1.9B CASH BUYOUT

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — Guitar Center Inc., the largest U.S. musical instrument retailer, said Wednesday its board had accepted a $1.9 billion cash buyout offer from a private equity firm.

The deal with affiliates of Bain Capital Partners LLC came amid speculation that a buyout was in the works. Guitar Center had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. to auction the company.

Bain Capital offered to pay $63 per share, which represents a premium of 26 percent over Guitar Center's closing price Tuesday of $50.06. The purchase price is based on the company's 30.2 million shares outstanding at the end of March.

Under the agreement, the buyers will also assume about $200 million in debt, pushing the total transaction value to $2.1 billion.

———

CONAGRA FOODS HAS PROFITABLE FOURTH QUARTER

OMAHA, Neb. — ConAgra Foods Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit soared on strong results from its commodities trading division and a comparison with results a year ago that were depressed by restructuring charges.

The costs of recalling its Peter Pan peanut butter hurt ConAgra's latest results, but its shares rose 4 percent in afternoon trading.

The food company said Wednesday it earned $192 million, or 39 cents per share, for the quarter ended May 27 versus a profit of $59.2 million, or 11 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose to $3.33 billion from $2.94 billion a year ago.

———

SEC INVESTIGATING BEAR STEARNS FUNDS

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the near-collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds that made bad bets on the mortgage market.

The SEC inquiry is "informal" at this point and has not resulted in any subpoenas or formal document requests, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry has not been publicly disclosed.

The existence of the probe was reported by BusinessWeek and CNBC on Monday.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox disclosed at a House hearing on Tuesday that the agency has started roughly a dozen investigations related to complex aggregations of debt known as collateralized debt obligations, in which hedge funds have increasingly invested.

———

CRUDE OIL, GAS PRICES END HIGHER

NEW YORK — Crude oil and gasoline prices settled higher Wednesday after a government inventory report stoked concerns about the nation's gasoline supplies during the summer driving season.

Heating oil also gained ground in trading after a decline in distillate stocks surprised traders.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery climbed $1.20 to end at $68.97 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose as high as $69.21 during the session.

Brent crude futures gained 31 cents to settle at $70.53 on London's ICE Futures exchange.

Gasoline futures rose 0.77 cent to end at $2.2546 a barrel. Retail gasoline prices clocked in at $2.975 a gallon Wednesday, a dime lower than a year ago and less than $3.209 a gallon a month ago.

———

FED RESERVE KICKS OFF MEETING ON ECONOMY

WASHINGTON — Keeping inflation under control as the economy emerges from a yearlong sluggish spell is certain to be a matter of lively debate for Federal Reserve policymakers.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues on Wednesday afternoon opened a two-day meeting where the economy's current and future performance will be assessed. The strength of the anticipated economic rebound, the depth of the housing slump, problems with risky mortgages, the state of the employment climate, and the direction of gasoline and other energy prices also will figure prominently in those discussions.

When it wraps up its meeting Thursday, the Fed is widely expected to hold a key interest rate at 5.25 percent, where it has stood for a year. Given that expectation, Wall Street investors, economists and others are keenly interested in the Fed's assessment of economic conditions and what that might mean for rate moves in the future.

———

CAPITAL ONE TO CUT 2,000 JOBS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Capital One Corp. said Wednesday it expects to eliminate about 2,000 jobs, or almost 7 percent of employees, throughout the company as part of a cost-cutting program designed to save $700 million by 2009.

The McLean, Va.-based credit card and banking company expects to incur $300 million of pre-tax charges for the restructuring, including $90 million this quarter and $200 million in 2007.

These charges are expected to reduce after-tax profit by 15 cents per share this quarter, and 33 cents per share in 2007.