Ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz were found guilty today of several criminal counts, including grand larceny. The simple crux of this case was that Kozlowski and Swartz paid bonuses to themselves and forgave corporate loans to themselves without board approval. Although the corporate regulators needed a victory after the past few weeks of post-scandal setbacks, this win is more of an avoided loss. The case was not complicated or difficult to convey to a jury. Did these guys steal?
Although Kozlowski has been portrayed as the poster child for partying like it was 1999, his crimes were of a vastly older vintage. And no new rules or regulations will ensure that these types of crimes will never happen again. For better or worse, these are crimes fueled by greed, not by a lax regulatory environment, and they will almost certainly happen again.
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