Tyco Heads Say They Were ‘Entitled’ to Bonuses
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Two former top executives of Tyco International Ltd., imprisoned for looting the company of millions of dollars, were unjustly convicted, their lawyers told an appeals court yesterday.
The arguments on behalf of the former chief executive officer, L. Dennis Kozlowski, and the former finance chief, Mark Swartz, centered on whether the men were entitled to all the money they received and whether some damning testimony was improperly permitted.
“Mark Swartz was entitled to everything he received at Tyco. One cannot steal what one earned,” Swartz’s lawyer, Nathaniel Marmur, told the Appellate Division’s four-judge panel.
Mr. Marmur said Swartz and Kozlowski received large bonuses approved by Tyco’s board of directors. Kozlowski’s lawyer, John Martin, argued that jurors should not have heard testimony that that Swartz claimed he received a $12.5 million bonus “by mistake” and would repay it.
