Prosecution Concludes in Tyco Trial
Prosecutors in the trial of two former top executives of Tyco International Ltd. finished closing arguments Friday and asked the jury to hold the defendants responsible for looting the company they were entrusted to oversee.
The jury, after four months of a New York state court trial in which there were 27 witnesses and 860 exhibits, is expected to get final instructions and begin deliberations Tuesday.
Ann Donnelly, one of two Manhattan assistant district attorneys who presented the prosecution’s summation, cited the testimony of former Tyco Chief Executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, who said he accepted responsibility for whatever happened.
Donnelly said Kozlowski and fellow defendant Mark H. Swartz, Tyco’s former chief financial officer, were responsible for stealing millions of dollars by awarding themselves unauthorized bonuses and by abusing the company’s loan program.
Defense lawyers for both men say the defendants never stole anything from Tyco, never intended to steal anything from Tyco and never accepted anything that was not approved by company officials.
Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, are accused of stealing $170 million from Tyco by hiding unauthorized pay and bonuses and by abusing company loan programs. They allegedly made an additional $430 million by inflating stock prices with lies about Tyco’s finances.
Both are on trial in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court on charges of grand larceny, falsifying business records and securities fraud. They each would face as much as 25 years in prison if convicted on just one of the grand larceny counts.
Tyco, which has about 250,000 employees and $40 billion in annual revenue, makes electronics and medical supplies and owns the ADT home security business. Nominally based in Bermuda, its operational headquarters are in West Windsor, N.J.
