During the recent trial of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, I noted here and here that the cross-examination of Mr. Kozlowski did not go well for the defense.
Consistent with that theme, this Wall Street Journal ($) article reports today that Mr. Kozlowski — who essentially was convicted of embezzling excess compensation from Tyco — wrote this letter several years ago to a Houston assistant district attorney in which he requests that the prosecutor seek the maximum prison term for a former executive of a Tyco unit who had been found guilty in a Houston state court for — you guessed it — embezzlement.
In his letter, Mr. Kozlowski wrote that the former Tyco unit executive’s crime “cannot be condoned in any manner” and that “not only did he steal from the stockholders … but he breached the fiduciary duty placed in him.” In advocating the “maximum term,” Mr. Kozlowski noted that the court needed to send a message that “wrongdoing of this nature against society is considered a grave matter.”
The former Tyco unit executive got 20 years, although he was paroled after four.