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Merrill Lynch (MER) hotshot Jessica Reif Cohen became the latest to suggest that Adelphia's failure to make some interest payments and its expected Nasdaq de-listing could lead to an "imminent" bankruptcy filing, which, in turn, could postpone the MSO's plan to sell several of its systems. "We believe prospective buyers will be much more cautious in their due diligence process given the complexity of the situation and the lack of audited financial statements," Reif Cohen wrote. "We believe... Cox (COX) has the most flexibility given its solid balance sheet. Paul Allen could step in however to help Charter (CHTR), and perhaps Microsoft (MSFT) could step in with Cox." Reif-Cohen suggested that Adelphia's troubles are weighing on the cable sector, which she says is underperforming. "We continue to maintain our view that investors should buy cable stocks, particularly high-quality operators, which are trading near historically low multiples, in anticipation of a very strong 2nd 1/ 2. We anticipate 2Q will be the low water mark for the industry. We project EBITDA growth will ramp up to 15%-16% in 2H02 vs 10%-14% in 1H02. -- Adelphia Woes: Following on the heels of CFO Tim Rigas' defection, Adelphia's vp, finance James Brown, an 18-year Adelphia vet, resigned over the weekend. And that wasn't even the worst news for the MSO. Reports in the NYTimes and WSJ begin to follow the money, with the NYT reporting Sun that Adelphia was an investor in the Buffalo Sabres hockey team-an investment that wasn't fully disclosed. Meanwhile, WSJ reported that prosecutors are looking for Adelphia office manuals that tell managers to buy furniture from a NY store owned by the Rigas family. Nasdaq still hasn't announced whether it will de-list the company or not.