Former TYCO execs guilty

Kozlowski, CFO stole more than $600 million

? Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and a second executive were convicted Friday of looting their company of more than $600 million to fund extravagant lifestyles featuring expensive jewelry, an opulent Manhattan apartment and a gaudy, $2 million Mediterranean birthday party.

A state court jury deliberated for 11 days before returning the verdict in the second prosecution of Kozlowski, 58, and Mark H. Swartz, 44, the conglomerate’s former finance chief.

Both were convicted of grand larceny, falsifying business records, securities fraud and other charges.

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

The two had testified that they were unaware of any wrongdoing when they accepted the money and loans.

“We are disappointed, and we will deal with this on appeal,” promised Swartz’s attorney, Charles Stillman.

Although prosecutors called for the men to be jailed pending sentencing, both were allowed to remain free on $10 million bail apiece. Their dejected wives sat in the courtroom, their heads hanging, as the jury foreman intoned guilty verdict after guilty verdict against the pair – 22 for each.

Former Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski, center, leaves court with his wife, Karen, right, in New York. Kozlowski and former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz were convicted Friday of looting the industrial products and services company Tyco International Ltd. of more than 00 million in corporate bonuses and loans.

Kozlowski and Swartz, who each were acquitted of just a single charge, were due back in court Aug. 2 for a pre-sentencing hearing.

The men join a string of executives convicted in recent months 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.

Former Westar executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake are facing trial on conspiracy and other charges in Kansas City, Kan.

The first trial of the former Tyco International Ltd. executives ended in an April 2004 mistrial because a juror, identified by a newspaper as a holdout for acquittal, received a menacing telephone call and letter.

The defendants 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 party Kozlowski threw for wife Karen’s 40th birthday on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, they said. Tyco paid about half of the party’s cost.

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.