Ex-Lawyer at Tyco Acted in ‘Good Faith’

Mark Belnick, Tyco International Ltd.’s former top lawyer, earned all of the millions of dollars that Tyco paid him and prosecutors have yet to prove that he committed a crime, a defense lawyer said in closing arguments Tuesday.

The lawyer, Reid Weingarten, suggested that Belnick was on trial as a scapegoat for the failings of others, mainly the company directors who allowed the alleged excesses of Tyco’s former chief executive, L. Dennis Kozlowski, to go unchecked.

Belnick, 57, is on trial in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court. He faces charges of first-degree grand larceny, falsifying business records and securities fraud and could be given a 25-year prison term if convicted on the top count, grand larceny.

Weingarten told jurors that Belnick believed that the compensation and loans he received at Tyco had been properly authorized.

“He never made a decision or did anything that was not in good faith,” the lawyer said.

Prosecutors, however, contend that Belnick committed grand larceny when he accepted a bonus of $17 million in cash and stock awarded by Kozlowski. Belnick testified that Kozlowksi told him the bonus was for his work guiding Tyco unscathed through a Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

But the government contends the money was a payoff for helping to hide Kozlowski’s alleged thefts from the SEC. And, prosecutors say, Belnick knew the bonus was illegal because he knew that Kozlowski was not authorized to grant it and that Tyco’s board never approved it.

The charge of falsifying business records stems from Belnick’s alleged misuse of Tyco’s relocation loan programs. Prosecutors say he used the $15 million in loans to buy a Manhattan apartment and a $10-million house in the ski resort town of Park City, Utah, without noting the loans on the proper forms.

Weingarten disputed that Belnick was the recipient of inappropriate treatment. Recalling the testimony of Tyco’s former human resources director, Patricia Prue, Weingarten said Kozlowski forgave 40 to 50 loans -- including Prue’s -- worth a total of $95 million in 2000.

“But Mark Belnick’s loan was never forgiven,” Weingarten said. “The ‘co-schemer’ with Kozlowski didn’t have his relocation loan forgiven but over 40 other people did.”

Weingarten’s closing arguments were expected to conclude Wednesday.