Free Republic

<p>The judge in the trial of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives sent jurors home for the weekend this afternoon amid reported disarray and acrimony after seven days of intense jury deliberations.</p> <p>State Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Obus took the bench at 2:35 p.m. and read a note from the jurors. "We wish to recess for the day and continue on Monday," the note said.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan jury began deliberations in one of the biggest corporate corruption cases in U.S. history on Thursday, weighing nearly six months of testimony on whether two former top Tyco International Ltd. executives looted the conglomerate of $600 million. Former Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, the company's former finance chief, face up to 30 years in state prison if found guilty on charges of grand larceny, securities fraud, conspiracy and providing false information on Tyco disclosure forms. After receiving lengthy instructions from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus, the jury began deliberations on a...

<p>Former Tyco money czar Mark Swartz - once the highest-paid CFO in the country - claimed in court yesterday that he had no idea a $12.5 million bonus somehow never made it onto his W-2 form.</p> <p>The bonus, received in 1999, more than doubled Swartz's gross salary that year of $10.6 million. A federal indictment on the matter is pending.</p>

Layoffs coming later this year Two-hundred Wayne County manufacturing jobs will be lost later this year. Tyco Plastics announced its Macedon and Webster locations will close July second. It's part of a nationwide reorganization effort. A Tyco spokesperson said there is not enough demand for the products made in Macedon to keep the plant open. “This was a tough decision as any decision involving employees are concerned, but in order for the business to stay healthy, in order for us to remain competitive in the marketplace, it was a necessary one,” Tyco spokesman Jay Pomeroy said.

<p>His drubbing in Iowa won't change one thing: Howard Dean set the tone of the Democratic campaign on an issue even beyond Iraq, and that's insisting George Bush is uniquely "beholden to corporate interests." Here is Mr. Dean blaming the president for the landmark business scandals of our time: "Our business culture is a disaster in this country. And this president's largely responsible for it . . . He just winks and nods."</p>

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Prosecutors moved a step closer to questioning an interior designer who did extensive work for L. Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco International Ltd.'s (TYC) former chairman and chief executive. The government had been seeking the whereabouts of Wendy Valliere, owner of Seldom Scene Interiors, to testify in the trial of Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, Tyco's former chief financial officer, in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Late Wednesday, her attorney, James Batson, agreed to reveal the phone number and location where he has been contacting her to prosecutors in response to an order by Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus. Kozlowski...

The videotape is now rated only PG-13. The most salacious scenes in the video of L. Dennis Kozlowski's multimillion-dollar birthday party for his second wife, Karen, on the island of Sardinia were ordered cut yesterday from a version to be shown to jurors in the trial of Mr. Kozlowski, who is accused of helping loot Tyco International of $600 million. Judge Michael J. Obus left on the cutting room floor scenes of the ice sculpture of Michelangelo's "David" urinating Stolichnaya vodka into crystal glasses and Mrs. Kozlowski's birthday cake in the shape of a woman's body with sparklers protruding from...

<p>October 8, 2003 -- x-Tyco International tycoon Dennis Kozlowski is a world-class thief who grabbed homes, yachts, art and jewels with two fists while keeping his shareholders in the dark about his pillaging, prosecutors charged yesterday at the opening of his embezzlement trial.</p>

<p>NANTUCKET, Mass. - With less than 48 hours before he was to stand trial on charges of looting $600 million from his company, disgraced Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski was living like a lord yesterday, throwing a no-expenses-spared, Hollywood-style wedding for his daughter, Sandra. Luxury-loving Kozlowski pulled out all the stops for the lavish two-day bash - estimated to have cost $400,000 - in Nantucket, where he owns a $5.8 million home.</p>

Ex-Merrill Analyst on Tyco ChargedWed, May 28, 2003By Tim McLaughlin BOSTON (Reuters) - Securities regulators on Wednesday said they charged former Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Phua Young with issuing misleading reports on Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE:TYC - news) and accused him of improper conduct, including flying on Tyco corporate jets. While former Merrill (NYSE:MER - news) analyst and managing director Young touted Tyco's stock between 1999 and early 2002, the conglomerate traded inside information with him and even agreed to hire a private investigator to do a background check on one of his friends, industry regulator NASD said in...

Things started well for Salt Lake City burglar-alarm dealer Edward J. Salmon III when he affiliated himself in 1996 with ADT Security Services Inc. Then Tyco International Ltd. acquired ADT. That's when ADT started pressuring Salmon to target "the scummiest neighborhoods possible" to boost sales, the Wall Street Journal reported today. "We wanted them to go into neighborhoods where there were problems, where Mookie was standing on a corner selling rock," said Thomas Davis, an ADT manager in the late 1990s. "Tyco kept pushing. They wanted numbers. They didn't give a crap if the accounts fell off the books later."...

This Halloween, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster seem positively cuddly. To inspire some real fear, try dressing up as one of these current and former chief executives. Now that's scary. Bernard J. Ebbers, Former WorldCom CEO Under Ebbers' watch, WorldCom (otc: WCOEQ - news - people ) overstated cash flow by booking operating expenses as capital expenses. By the latest account, WorldCom has overstated income by as much as $9 billion over several years. Former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan and ex-controller David Myers were arrested and criminally charged, but so far Ebbers himself has escaped legal jeopardy. Still, Ebbers presided...

EXETER, N.H. (AP) - Tyco International Ltd. is seeking to force former chief financial officer Mark Swartz to return millions of dollars he allegedly misappropriated from the company. Tyco filed an arbitration demand with the American Arbitration Association on Monday, the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC filing says Swartz "breached his fiduciary duties" as chief financial officer and director and "misappropriated company funds and other assets." Swartz was indicted along with former chairman and CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski last month for allegedly stealing $600 million from Tyco. They have pleaded innocent. Tyco...

Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs gave officers or directors of 21 favored investment banking clients access to lucrative initial public offerings it managed, said a congressional committee on Wednesday in a scathing report Goldman slammed as "rubbish." The so-called "spinning" of IPOs by Goldman occurred from 1996 to 2000 and allowed numerous high-profile corporate executives to reap hefty profits from new, red-hot, mostly technology and telecommunication issues, said the report from the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Among those who received the IPO share access from Goldman were former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Tyco International chief...

Prosecutors have expanded their investigation of Tyco International Ltd. to include the company's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, according to a published report. Investigators are trying to determine whether the nation's largest accounting firm knew about secret bonuses that were being paid to former Tyco executives as well as accounting practices that regulators have charged were used to hide the payments, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper cited unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive, and Mark Swartz, its former chief financial officer, have been charged with enterprise corruption and grand larceny for allegedly...

Meeting minutes indicate that some members of Tyco International Ltd.'s (TYC, news) board were aware of controversial pay packages given to the company's top executives before the board began to disclose them, The New York Times reported Monday. In addition, a Tyco executive told a Manhattan grand jury that a board member pressured her to change the minutes of a compensation committee meeting to make it look like one of the disputed payment packages had not been approved, the Times said. Tyco's board has said previously that it was not aware of the payment packages and loans given to some...

The former chief executive and the former chief financial officer of Tyco International Ltd. were indicted yesterday on charges that they reaped $600 million through a racketeering scheme involving stock fraud, unauthorized bonuses and falsified expense accounts. The company's former general counsel was also indicted, on charges that he falsified company records to conceal $14 million in improper loans to himself. L. Dennis Kozlowski, 55, the son of a Newark police officer who as chief executive helped build Tyco into an international conglomerate, and Mark H. Swartz, 42, his financial adviser and second-in-command, are accused of using the money to...

Before joining Tyco International Ltd. as general counsel in 1998, Mark A. Belnick was a high-profile litigator whose clients included the U.S. Senate's Iran-Contra committee, the National Association of Securities Dealers and former junk-bond king Michael Milken.Now, Mr. Belnick is facing the biggest case of his 31-year career: his own.Thursday, Mr. Belnick became the most visible former general counsel of a publicly-held company ever to be criminally charged with defrauding the very company he was supposed to protect. Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced the indictment of Mr. Belnick for falsifying business records to conceal more than $14 million...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Tyco International Ltd. gave former CEO Dennis Kozlowski more than $135 million during his tenure so he could buy a mansion, artwork, expensive vacations and other luxury furnishings, a newspaper reported Wednesday.</p> <p>Kozlowski, 55, who oversaw the expansion of one of the largest U.S. companies, was charged, and pleaded guilty, in June with evading more than $1 million in New York State sales taxes on art purchases. Investigators said Kozlowski used company funds to buy the artwork.</p>

Palaces for Corporate Princes Executives Keep Building Mansions Despite Scandals By Brian Ross July 25 — Far from the bad news of the stock market and the cascading bankruptcies and financial scandals, America's corporate elite — including some of the business leaders under investigation — are still spending their summers in unbowed luxury. One favorite destination is the island resort of Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast, a place filled with multimillion-dollar mansions. The home under the most scrutiny at the moment is a 7,000 square foot mansion owned by Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International. With a four-bedroom guest...