One, Two, many Enrons!

ChrisD(RJ) chrisd at russiajournal.com
Thu Jun 27 06:00:24 PDT 2002


Former Tyco Chief Faces New Charges By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and SUSAN SAULNY L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chairman and chief executive of Tyco International </redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/ nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=TYC>, was indicted yesterday on two new charges of tampering with evidence in the case that accuses him of evading more than $1 million of sales taxes on six paintings that he bought last fall. Mr. Kozlowski pleaded not guilty to the new charges. He had already been accused in a 12-count indictment of trying to avoid paying New York sales taxes by shipping empty painting crates to Tyco's headquarters in Exeter, N.H., and then transporting the paintings between New Hampshire and Manhattan. The new indictment contends that Mr. Kozlowski removed a fraudulent bill of lading, or cargo document, from a file of papers kept at Tyco's offices in Boca Raton, Fla., before turning the file over to the Manhattan district attorney's office. Investigators had requested the complete file last month.

The bill of lading, which is dated Jan. 2, 2002, falsely reflected the shipping from New York and the receipt in New Hampshire of five paintings, including a Monet and a Renoir, prosecutors said. The accusations against Mr. Kozlowski have prompted an internal investigation into the finances at Tyco, whose share price has plummeted more than 80 percent this year. To bolster its balance sheet, Tyco plans to spin off its finance unit, CIT Group, in an initial offering on Tuesday. Executives close to the company said they planned to price the offering on Monday at $5 billion to $5.8 billion, or $25 to $29 a share. Mr. Kozlowski looked flushed yesterday when he appeared for arraignment in a crowded, hot and muggy Manhattan courtroom before Justice Michael J. Obus. He uttered one sentence: "I plead not guilty to the indictment." He was released on the same $3 million bail posted after his last arraignment. Conviction on a charge of tampering with physical evidence is a felony, carrying a penalty of four years in prison. Mr. Kozlowski already faces a possibility of up to four years in prison for each of the 12 counts in his previous indictment, to which he pleaded not guilty on June 4. Just before Mr. Kozlowski pleaded not guilty yesterday, Justice Obus stressed that the investigation into the sales tax avoidance charges and finances was continuing, leaving open the possibility of future charges. Justice Obus went ahead with the arraignment "to proceed with the case to the extent possible" while other issues are pending. Mr. Kozlowski's next court date is scheduled for Aug. 14. Prosecutors and Tyco are separately investigating whether Mr. Kozlowski used company loans and money to buy artwork and whether company money was used to buy his apartment in New York and possibly one of his homes in Florida. Tyco's own internal inquiry has already led to lawsuits against Mark A. Belnick, its former general counsel, and Frank E. Walsh Jr., its former lead independent director, contending in separate cases that the men wrongly took millions of dollars from the company with the help of Mr. Kozlowski. According to the suit against Mr. Belnick, he repeatedly received cash and stock bonuses from Tyco that were approved by Mr. Kozlowski but not disclosed to the board. In 2000 alone, those bonuses totaled more than $20 million. Mr. Belnick also borrowed $14 million from Tyco using no-interest loans backed only by promissory notes, the suit said. The suit against Mr. Walsh said he and a charity he controlled received a $20 million bonus from Tyco in 2001 that was not disclosed to Tyco's board. Mr. Kozlowski approved the payments to Mr. Walsh, who led the committee that determined the pay of Mr. Kozlowski, without consulting anyone else, according to the suit. The district attorney's office would not comment yesterday on the details of how the phony bill of lading was found to be missing, but such slips of paper usually come in duplicate. The indictment states that Mr. Kozlowski suppressed the "original bill of lading" and is not specific about what he did with it, except to state that it was an "act of concealment, alteration and destruction." Once outside the stifling courtroom, Mr. Kozlowski smiled and refused to answer the questions of a crowd of reporters. His lawyer, Stephen E. Kaufman, said, "It is our view that the charges are unsubstantiated and unproven." But as the reporters continued to pepper Mr. Kozlowski with questions, he opened up a little bit. "I'm spending my time with family and friends," he said when asked what he had been doing. As Mr. Kozlowski entered an elevator with several of the reporters, the questioning continued. As he appeared about to speak, Mr. Kaufman interrupted, saying, "I've advised him not to make any statements." "I'm listening to my lawyer," Mr. Kozlowski said.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list