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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A nanny who was arrested after police viewed hidden camera video recordings that appeared to show her shaking a 5-month-old baby is suing the recording system's manufacturer. Claudia Muro, 32, alleges that distorted camera footage wrongfully led to her arrest and imprisonment. She was arrested in October 2003 and spent two years awaiting trial before prosecutors dropped the case because of concerns about the tape. The footage was broadcast on television around the country. The lawsuit was filed against Boca Raton-based Tyco Fire & Security, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The lawsuit...

NEW YORK - Bonuses at Wall Street firms climbed to a projected record of $21.5 billion last year as revenue grew, according to the New York state comptroller's office. Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Wednesday that 2005's bonus tally was $2 billion more than the old record, which was set in 2000. In 2004, Wall Street bonuses came to an estimated $18.6 billion. Last year's average bonus was pegged at $125,500, also a record, Hevesi said. Revenue at Wall Street firms rose 44.5 percent through the first three quarters of 2005, climbing to the highest level since 2000, the year when...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tyco International, whose former CEO became a symbol of corporate corruption, acknowledged Thursday it is the Jack Abramoff client referred to as "Company A" in court documents describing the lobbyist's scheme to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying fees to himself. Tyco hired Abramoff in 2003 to lobby for it on a tax issue, said company spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff. She declined to comment further on the New Jersey-based company's relationship with Abramoff or on the lobbyist's activities. Abramoff pleaded guilty this week in Washington to mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with his lobbying activities...

One of the things that makes me a moderate conservative rather than an extreme-right conservative is that I have never forgotten something my business-law college professor told us – that when government passes a new law or regulation that places limits on what businessmen or markets can do, it’s always because some people acted to excess and spoiled everything. Although the situation has changed slightly for the better, this kind of condition clearly exists in the area of top-executive pay (that of CEOs), and in the aftermath of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and Global Crossing, cries out for some action.

A state prison in Fishkill, New York, Thursday welcomed former Tyco International executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz -- as inmates. The former executives convicted of stealing $600 million from Tyco, arrived at the Downstate Correctional Facility from Rikers Island, where they've been since their sentencing on Monday. The Fishkill prison is a reception center where male inmates stay for several weeks while waiting to be assigned a full-time prison. Kozlowski and Swartz were sentenced to 8-and-one-third to 25 years in prison. At Downstate, the two got the standard short haircut and prison clothing. Because of their high-profile cases,...

Two Tyco execs were just sentenced to 25 years for their corruption and embezzlement of corporate funds. Ebbers, for his WorldCom fraud also got 25 years. The sentence calls to mind the magnitude of corporate criminals compared to other more heinous crimes. Take the case of Joesph Edward Duncan III who raped and tortured a 14 year old boy at gunpoint and received a 20 year sentence, 5 years shorter than the Tyco execs. How about John Wesley, who after being convicted in 2004 for child molestation while out on probation is back in jail for harassing a 7 and...

Former Worldcom Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers was handed a 25-year prison term for directing the biggest accounting fraud in corporate history, leaving thousands of investors empty-handed. Ebbers, who built a small Mississippi-based long distance company into a telecommunications powerhouse, was found guilty on March 15 on all charges — one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. But he could also be a charming and folksy CEO, who preferred cowboy boots to suits, opened shareholder meetings with a prayer, ate lunch in the cafeteria and ran a company that had become a...

ATLANTA (AP) - Turning to a businessman to lead one of the nation's seminal civil rights groups, the NAACP's board of directors said Saturday that Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, will be its next president. "Civil rights leaders throughout this country did what they did and died, so my generation has full responsibility to walk in the doors those brave people opened," Gordon said after his selection. Gordon was selected by unanimous vote to succeed Kweisi Mfume, former U.S. representative and a candidate for Senate in Maryland who resigned abruptly in December. Several months later, a report surfaced...

Just announced on CNBC that the jury hearling the trial of the CEO and CFO has a verdict. Let's hope they nail those scumbags....

L. Dennis Kozlowski wants to be clear: the $6,000 shower curtain wasn't his idea. The shower curtain, bought by his decorator on Tyco International's tab for an extravagantly furnished Manhattan apartment, became perhaps the most notable symbol of an era of corporate excess and conspicuous consumption. "I understand why a $6,000 shower curtain seems indefensible," Mr. Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive, said on the eve of his retrial on charges of looting the company. "But I didn't know about it. I just wasn't even aware of it. If somebody had come to me and said, 'Do you want to spend...

Tyco International Inc. on Tuesday said the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered information from the company on its involvement in the United Nations Oil for Food program in Iraq. The diversified manufacturer, based in Princeton, N.J., said it is gathering information and "will fully cooperate in ongoing investigations." Tyco said the SEC is seeking information on the company's participation, "if any," in the program, which had governed sale of Iraqi oil and is the subject of several corruption probes. Shares of Tyco closed Tuesday at $34.94, up 52 cents, or 1.5 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bob Dole Slams Kerry By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 23, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Nothing has really changed for Democratic hopeful John Kerry, except that real war veterans, like Bob Dole, are questioning the “superficial wounds” and resulting “medals” he received during four (4) months service in Vietnam. Kerry is still flailing, trying to cover up a career punctuated by extreme left-wing politics and flip-flopping by talking to voters about his military service. He squandered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention by trying to convince Americans that his tour of duty in Vietnam will make him a great commander...

Ken Lay of Enron Indicted and Arrested By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 8, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Enron’s ex-Chairman of the Board has been indicted and arrested on charges connected with his former company’s implosion in 2001. Corporate executives at Enron engaged in all sorts of financial manipulations to pump up the company’s stock price. They created complex “partnerships” to hide company debt from shareholders. In 1998, Enron’s share price was at about $20. By 2000, it hit $90. By 2001, the company’s stock was worthless. Enron’s collapse wiped out billions in shareholder value and employee pensions. Democratic Presidential hopeful John...

White-collar crooks deserve tough treatment. But 24 years for Dynegy's Jamie Olis? Politics has turned financial fraud into a worse crime than running drugs or killing someone. Former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski is a lucky guy. Not because a stubborn juror landed him a mistrial. He's lucky because even if New York prosecutors retry him, as they've vowed to do, the flamboyant former exec is looking at 15 to 30 years, no more. Were Kozlowski in federal court instead, he could easily be facing what amounts to a life sentence--with no chance of parole--under rigid new sentencing guidelines. While...

Just on MSNBC. Mistrial declared!

NEW YORK - A judge ordered more deliberations Monday in the trial of two former Tyco executives, rejecting a defense mistrial motion contending that one juror apparently holding out for acquittal had been pressured by intense media coverage. State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said he spoke privately with the juror, who was identified by name on the cover of a tabloid newspaper over the weekend and depicted making an “OK” hand signal to the defense. He said she told him “that nothing that has happened will from her point of view prevent her from deliberating in good conscience with...

NEW YORK (March 29) - Jurors have described their deliberations in the trial of two former Tyco International executives as ''poisonous'' and ''irreparably compromised.'' The judge has called their notes to him ''disturbing'' and seems to be leaning toward a mistrial. Nonetheless, Judge Michael J. Obus concurred with jurors' request to return to work Monday morning, even after they wrote Friday that they had ''ceased to be able to conduct respectful, open-minded, good-faith deliberations.'' Obus must decide whether to keep pushing jurors to overcome what they have described as an atmosphere of animosity that has dominated the jury room in...

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. | Tyco International shareholders overwhelmingly rejected proposals to move the scandal-tainted conglomerate's incorporation back to the United States and to strictly limit executive compensation — both moves the company opposed. Fewer than 100 shareholders attended the subdued meeting, and most of those who spoke offered positive opinions of Tyco's new management. One congratulated Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen, the former Motorola chief operating officer who took over in July 2002, for boosting Tyco's market capitalization by $30 billion in a year. That was despite some shareholder anger over Tyco's low stock price — less than half its...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The corruption case of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives veered closer to a mistrial on Friday as jurors remained in turmoil, prompting the judge to send them home early to calm down. New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus told the jurors to return on Monday after they sent him a note saying they did not believe they could keep deliberating in good faith. "Based upon further intense discussion today, we firmly believe that this jury's ability to communicate and deliberate with an open mind is irreparably compromised," the jury said in the note...

<p>The judge in the trial of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives sent jurors home for the weekend this afternoon amid reported disarray and acrimony after seven days of intense jury deliberations.</p> <p>State Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Obus took the bench at 2:35 p.m. and read a note from the jurors. "We wish to recess for the day and continue on Monday," the note said.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan jury began deliberations in one of the biggest corporate corruption cases in U.S. history on Thursday, weighing nearly six months of testimony on whether two former top Tyco International Ltd. executives looted the conglomerate of $600 million. Former Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, the company's former finance chief, face up to 30 years in state prison if found guilty on charges of grand larceny, securities fraud, conspiracy and providing false information on Tyco disclosure forms. After receiving lengthy instructions from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus, the jury began deliberations on a...

<p>Former Tyco money czar Mark Swartz - once the highest-paid CFO in the country - claimed in court yesterday that he had no idea a $12.5 million bonus somehow never made it onto his W-2 form.</p> <p>The bonus, received in 1999, more than doubled Swartz's gross salary that year of $10.6 million. A federal indictment on the matter is pending.</p>

Layoffs coming later this year Two-hundred Wayne County manufacturing jobs will be lost later this year. Tyco Plastics announced its Macedon and Webster locations will close July second. It's part of a nationwide reorganization effort. A Tyco spokesperson said there is not enough demand for the products made in Macedon to keep the plant open. “This was a tough decision as any decision involving employees are concerned, but in order for the business to stay healthy, in order for us to remain competitive in the marketplace, it was a necessary one,” Tyco spokesman Jay Pomeroy said.

<p>His drubbing in Iowa won't change one thing: Howard Dean set the tone of the Democratic campaign on an issue even beyond Iraq, and that's insisting George Bush is uniquely "beholden to corporate interests." Here is Mr. Dean blaming the president for the landmark business scandals of our time: "Our business culture is a disaster in this country. And this president's largely responsible for it . . . He just winks and nods."</p>

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Prosecutors moved a step closer to questioning an interior designer who did extensive work for L. Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco International Ltd.'s (TYC) former chairman and chief executive. The government had been seeking the whereabouts of Wendy Valliere, owner of Seldom Scene Interiors, to testify in the trial of Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, Tyco's former chief financial officer, in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Late Wednesday, her attorney, James Batson, agreed to reveal the phone number and location where he has been contacting her to prosecutors in response to an order by Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus. Kozlowski...

The videotape is now rated only PG-13. The most salacious scenes in the video of L. Dennis Kozlowski's multimillion-dollar birthday party for his second wife, Karen, on the island of Sardinia were ordered cut yesterday from a version to be shown to jurors in the trial of Mr. Kozlowski, who is accused of helping loot Tyco International of $600 million. Judge Michael J. Obus left on the cutting room floor scenes of the ice sculpture of Michelangelo's "David" urinating Stolichnaya vodka into crystal glasses and Mrs. Kozlowski's birthday cake in the shape of a woman's body with sparklers protruding from...

<p>October 8, 2003 -- x-Tyco International tycoon Dennis Kozlowski is a world-class thief who grabbed homes, yachts, art and jewels with two fists while keeping his shareholders in the dark about his pillaging, prosecutors charged yesterday at the opening of his embezzlement trial.</p>

<p>NANTUCKET, Mass. - With less than 48 hours before he was to stand trial on charges of looting $600 million from his company, disgraced Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski was living like a lord yesterday, throwing a no-expenses-spared, Hollywood-style wedding for his daughter, Sandra. Luxury-loving Kozlowski pulled out all the stops for the lavish two-day bash - estimated to have cost $400,000 - in Nantucket, where he owns a $5.8 million home.</p>

Ex-Merrill Analyst on Tyco ChargedWed, May 28, 2003By Tim McLaughlin BOSTON (Reuters) - Securities regulators on Wednesday said they charged former Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Phua Young with issuing misleading reports on Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE:TYC - news) and accused him of improper conduct, including flying on Tyco corporate jets. While former Merrill (NYSE:MER - news) analyst and managing director Young touted Tyco's stock between 1999 and early 2002, the conglomerate traded inside information with him and even agreed to hire a private investigator to do a background check on one of his friends, industry regulator NASD said in...

Things started well for Salt Lake City burglar-alarm dealer Edward J. Salmon III when he affiliated himself in 1996 with ADT Security Services Inc. Then Tyco International Ltd. acquired ADT. That's when ADT started pressuring Salmon to target "the scummiest neighborhoods possible" to boost sales, the Wall Street Journal reported today. "We wanted them to go into neighborhoods where there were problems, where Mookie was standing on a corner selling rock," said Thomas Davis, an ADT manager in the late 1990s. "Tyco kept pushing. They wanted numbers. They didn't give a crap if the accounts fell off the books later."...

This Halloween, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster seem positively cuddly. To inspire some real fear, try dressing up as one of these current and former chief executives. Now that's scary. Bernard J. Ebbers, Former WorldCom CEO Under Ebbers' watch, WorldCom (otc: WCOEQ - news - people ) overstated cash flow by booking operating expenses as capital expenses. By the latest account, WorldCom has overstated income by as much as $9 billion over several years. Former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan and ex-controller David Myers were arrested and criminally charged, but so far Ebbers himself has escaped legal jeopardy. Still, Ebbers presided...

EXETER, N.H. (AP) - Tyco International Ltd. is seeking to force former chief financial officer Mark Swartz to return millions of dollars he allegedly misappropriated from the company. Tyco filed an arbitration demand with the American Arbitration Association on Monday, the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC filing says Swartz "breached his fiduciary duties" as chief financial officer and director and "misappropriated company funds and other assets." Swartz was indicted along with former chairman and CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski last month for allegedly stealing $600 million from Tyco. They have pleaded innocent. Tyco...

Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs gave officers or directors of 21 favored investment banking clients access to lucrative initial public offerings it managed, said a congressional committee on Wednesday in a scathing report Goldman slammed as "rubbish." The so-called "spinning" of IPOs by Goldman occurred from 1996 to 2000 and allowed numerous high-profile corporate executives to reap hefty profits from new, red-hot, mostly technology and telecommunication issues, said the report from the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Among those who received the IPO share access from Goldman were former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Tyco International chief...

Prosecutors have expanded their investigation of Tyco International Ltd. to include the company's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, according to a published report. Investigators are trying to determine whether the nation's largest accounting firm knew about secret bonuses that were being paid to former Tyco executives as well as accounting practices that regulators have charged were used to hide the payments, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper cited unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive, and Mark Swartz, its former chief financial officer, have been charged with enterprise corruption and grand larceny for allegedly...

Meeting minutes indicate that some members of Tyco International Ltd.'s (TYC, news) board were aware of controversial pay packages given to the company's top executives before the board began to disclose them, The New York Times reported Monday. In addition, a Tyco executive told a Manhattan grand jury that a board member pressured her to change the minutes of a compensation committee meeting to make it look like one of the disputed payment packages had not been approved, the Times said. Tyco's board has said previously that it was not aware of the payment packages and loans given to some...

The former chief executive and the former chief financial officer of Tyco International Ltd. were indicted yesterday on charges that they reaped $600 million through a racketeering scheme involving stock fraud, unauthorized bonuses and falsified expense accounts. The company's former general counsel was also indicted, on charges that he falsified company records to conceal $14 million in improper loans to himself. L. Dennis Kozlowski, 55, the son of a Newark police officer who as chief executive helped build Tyco into an international conglomerate, and Mark H. Swartz, 42, his financial adviser and second-in-command, are accused of using the money to...

Before joining Tyco International Ltd. as general counsel in 1998, Mark A. Belnick was a high-profile litigator whose clients included the U.S. Senate's Iran-Contra committee, the National Association of Securities Dealers and former junk-bond king Michael Milken.Now, Mr. Belnick is facing the biggest case of his 31-year career: his own.Thursday, Mr. Belnick became the most visible former general counsel of a publicly-held company ever to be criminally charged with defrauding the very company he was supposed to protect. Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced the indictment of Mr. Belnick for falsifying business records to conceal more than $14 million...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Tyco International Ltd. gave former CEO Dennis Kozlowski more than $135 million during his tenure so he could buy a mansion, artwork, expensive vacations and other luxury furnishings, a newspaper reported Wednesday.</p> <p>Kozlowski, 55, who oversaw the expansion of one of the largest U.S. companies, was charged, and pleaded guilty, in June with evading more than $1 million in New York State sales taxes on art purchases. Investigators said Kozlowski used company funds to buy the artwork.</p>

Palaces for Corporate Princes Executives Keep Building Mansions Despite Scandals By Brian Ross July 25 — Far from the bad news of the stock market and the cascading bankruptcies and financial scandals, America's corporate elite — including some of the business leaders under investigation — are still spending their summers in unbowed luxury. One favorite destination is the island resort of Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast, a place filled with multimillion-dollar mansions. The home under the most scrutiny at the moment is a 7,000 square foot mansion owned by Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International. With a four-bedroom guest...

<p>PARTY HEARTY!.Dennis Kozlowski partied hearty at his $12 million Nantucket mansion over the July 4 holiday.</p> <p>Corporate disgrace hasn't cramped the high-rolling lifestyle of Tyco's ex-CEO, L. Dennis Kozlowski.</p> <p>While the shamed fat cat awaits a Manhattan trial for tax evasion - and Tyco's stock remains stuck in the Dumpster - he's been living it up on his $25 million antique yacht and enjoying the Atlantic views from his $12 million Nantucket mansion.</p>

WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- "There is nothing new in the world," President Harry S. Truman liked to say, "Except the history you don't already know." He must have been reading United Press International analysis on "The decline and fall of the American economy." Ten months ago, on Aug. 30, 2001 -- less than two weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and mangled the Pentagon -- this column said, "The continued slide of the U.S. economy into serious recession and the failure of the Bush administration to either recognize the fact or...

It is clear to me that the amoral, unethical, and crimial Clintons are a primary reason for the rash of corporate corruption that has come to light during the past year. So many of the skills required for lying and avoiding responsibility were taught by the Clintons to our corporate leadership. Clearly Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and Tyco managments thought they could adopt the Clintons' technigues --- and they have. Bill and Hillary taught us to commit crimes to achieve power, control or money; to deny and lie about crime roles; to destroy or hide all evidence; to accuse opponents of...

<p>New York, June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Tyco International Ltd. paid $6.38 million for an apartment on Manhattan's Park Avenue, sold it two years later for $7 million to Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski's wife as they divorced, and didn't disclose the transactions.</p>

Stocks Dip on Mistrust of Corporations   NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks tumbled on Monday, the broad market hitting an eight-month low as the abrupt departure of the chairman of embattled conglomerate Tyco International Ltd. deepened mistrust about Corporate America's top management and finances. Natural gas pipeline and energy trading company El Paso Corp. deepened Wall Street's anxiety after saying its treasurer died in an apparent suicide. Shares tumbled 14 percent even after a source told Reuters the treasurer had serious health problems and the company said its finances were in good order. "The overall tone is absolutely shoot first...