honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, June 18, 2005

Former Tyco executives guilty of stealing millions

 •  Recent corporate scandals

By Samuel Maull
Associated Press

NEW YORK— Former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski and a subordinate were convicted yesterday of looting more than $600 million from their company to pay for lavish parties, fancy art and an opulent Manhattan apartment that featured a $6,000 shower curtain.

Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski leaves court with his wife, Karen, after he and ex-finance chief Mark Swartz were convicted.

Gregory Bull • Associated Press

Kozlowski and former Tyco finance chief Mark H. Swartz joined a string of executives convicted in recent years in high-profile corporate wrongdoing cases, among them former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy.

Richard Scrushy, founder and former chief executive at HealthSouth Corp., is on trial on fraud charges and awaiting a jury verdict in federal court in Birmingham, Ala. And former Enron Corp. executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling are scheduled to go on trial early next year.

A state court jury deliberated over 11 days before returning the verdict on Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44. Both were convicted of grand larceny, falsifying business records, securities fraud and other charges.

The verdict came after a four-month trial, the second for both men, in Manhattan state Supreme Court. They now face up to 30 years in prison — the maximum sentence under the law, prosecutors said.

Kozlowski and Swartz were allowed to remain free on $10 million bail apiece pending an Aug. 2 pre-sentencing hearing.

The pair had testified they were unaware of any wrongdoing when they accepted enormous corporate bonuses and hefty loans that were later forgiven by Tyco. Both indicated they would appeal the verdict.

Their disappointed wives sat in the courtroom, their heads hanging, as the jury foreman intoned guilty verdict after guilty verdict — 22 for each. Kozlowski and Swartz were each acquitted of just a single charge.

"We are disappointed, and we will deal with this on appeal," promised Swartz's attorney, Charles Stillman. Kozlowski's attorney, Stephen Kaufman, said outside the courthouse, "We're very disappointed by this verdict."

The defendants both left the courthouse through a back door, climbed into waiting cars and left without comment.

The first trial of Kozlowski and Swartz ended with a judge declaring a mistrial in April 2004 because a juror, identified by a newspaper as a holdout for acquittal, received a menacing telephone call and letter.

Kozlowski and Swartz were accused of enriching themselves by nearly $600 million by taking unauthorized pay and bonuses, abusing loan programs and selling their company stock at inflated prices after lying about Tyco's finances.

Often, prosecutors said, the defendants hid their alleged thefts by failing to disclose the bonuses and loan forgivenesses in company prospectuses and federal filings, and bought the silence of underlings with outsized compensation.

Both used Tyco's money to buy extravagant lifestyles that featured art, jewelry and real estate, prosecutors said. An example of that spending was the gaudy $2 million toga party Kozlowski threw for the 40th birthday of his wife, Karen, on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, they said. Tyco paid about half of the party's cost.

Kozlowski became the object of ridicule after it was revealed that the furnishings at his Manhattan apartment included a $6,000 shower curtain and other extravagances that brought the value of the place to more than $30 million.

The prosecution's emphasis in the first trial on such lavish spending was pared in the second.

Lawyers for Kozlowski, with Tyco from 1975 until 2002, and Swartz, who joined Tyco in 1991 and left in 2002, said the executives believed they were acting lawfully when they accepted compensation and loan forgivenesses or spent Tyco's money. They said there was no criminal intent by either man and, therefore, there were no crimes.

• • •

RECENT CORPORATE SCANDALS

A look at some of the high-profile corporate scandals of recent years and the status of legal action in each.

TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD. — Former Chief Executive L. Dennis Kozlowski and Chief Financial Officer Mark H. Swartz were convicted yesterday on 22 of 23 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud and falsifying business records. Prosecutors accused the two of conspiring to defraud Tyco of millions of dollars to fund extravagant lifestyles. The two each face up to 30 years in prison.

HEALTHSOUTH CORP. — Former CEO Richard Scrushy could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted on all 36 counts of conspiracy, false reporting, fraud and money laundering for allegedly orchestrating a $2.7 billion earnings overstatement. A federal jury has been deliberating in the case since May 19.

ADELPHIA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. — Founder John Rigas and his son Timothy were convicted in federal court last year of conspiracy, bank fraud and securities fraud. The two are to be sentenced Monday. Another Rigas son, Michael, was acquitted of conspiracy charges before the case ended in a mistrial with jurors deadlocked on 17 counts against him.

WORLDCOM INC. — Bernard Ebbers, former chief of the telecom giant, was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and making false regulatory filings in WorldCom's $11 billion accounting scandal. He is due to be sentenced next month and faces up to 85 years in prison.

CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON — The company's former investment banking star, Frank Quattrone, was convicted in May 2004 on federal charges of obstruction of justice, after his first trial ended in a hung jury. Quattrone, who made a fortune taking Internet companies public during the dot-com stock boom, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is free on bail and appealing the conviction.

ENRON CORP. — Enron founder Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling and former top accountant Richard Causey are scheduled to go to trial in January on federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Former CFO Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty in January 2004 to orchestrating schemes to hide the company's debt and inflate profits while pocketing millions of dollars. He will serve the maximum 10-year sentence, which will begin in July 2006.

MARTHA STEWART — The founder of a homemaking empire was released March 4 after serving five months in prison, and is serving an additional five months confined to her home. She was convicted in federal court last year of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements related to a personal sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.