Top > Business > 2005 > September > 2005-09-20

Tyco execs sentenced and jailed

A state judge on Monday sentenced former Tyco International Ltd. executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison for looting the company of hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for lavish parties, luxurious homes and extravagances such as a $6,000 shower curtain. In a case that came to symbolize corporate greed, New York state Supreme Court Judge Michael J. Obus also ordered Kozlowski and Swartz to pay nearly $240 million in fines and restitution.

Kozlowski and Swartz were immediately taken into custody and led from a packed courtroom in handcuffs as family members of both men sobbed. The men are likely to serve at least part of their sentences in one of New York`s 16 maximum-security state prisons. The sentences for Kozlowski and Swartz follow lengthy terms meted out to other white-collar defendants convicted in a wave of criminal cases that followed the collapse of the Internet bubble and multibillion-dollar frauds at companies such as WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp.

There is no parole in the federal system, under which many other white-collar defendants have been tried and sentenced. Though their sentences may be cut shorter than other executives`, the time Kozlowski and Swartz spend behind bars may be in a harsher environment. Obus did not specify where the two former executives will serve their terms.