Former Tyco execs sentenced to prison

Duo receive up to 25 years for looting

? L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco International Ltd., and former Tyco finance chief Mark Swartz were sentenced Monday to up to 25 years in prison for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in a case that outraged the public with its tales of executive greed and excess.

The men, who were immediately ordered into custody, will be eligible for parole after serving eight years and four months.

Family members wept in the gallery as the sentences were imposed. Kozlowski was led out of the front of the courtroom in handcuffs as his wife quietly sobbed from a bench three rows back.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus ordered Kozlowski and Swartz to pay a total of $134 million in restitution; in addition, Kozlowski was fined $70 million, Swartz $35 million.

The sentences capped a case that exposed the executives’ extravagant lifestyles pilfering some $600 million from the company. Among their expenses: a $2 million toga birthday party for Kozlowski’s wife on a Mediterranean island and an $18 million New York City apartment with a $6,000 shower curtain.

Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, were convicted in June after a four-month trial on 22 counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records, securities fraud and conspiracy. It was their second trial; the first ended in mistrial after a juror said she received threats following reports that she made an “OK” signal to the defense team.

Kozlowski and Swartz are the latest executives sentenced to prison in a wave of white-collar scandals that shook corporate America and outraged investors, employees and retirees after thousands of people lost their jobs and pension nest-eggs.