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 "It was greed, pure and simple," the 67-year-old former executive
told a New York State parole panel at a December 3 video conference
hearing. "I feel horrible ... I can't say how sorry I am and how
deeply I regret my actions."
The panel granted Kozlowski's parole bid on Tuesday and he is
scheduled to be formally released on January 17.
A poster boy for the corporate excesses of the 1990s bull market,
Kozlowski went to prison after a trial that featured a $6,000 shower
curtain and video of a $2 million party with ice sculptures of
Michelangelo's David spewing vodka.
He was sentenced in 2005 to 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison following
his conviction on grand larceny, securities fraud and other charges.
At Tuesday's parole hearing, he told the panel he took unauthorized
bonuses over three or four years. He said over $100 million went to
a deferred income account, "where it sits to this day."
Kozlowski said he tried to "make up for" his crimes by selling homes
and liquidating investments to pay $134 million in court-ordered
restitution and a $70 million fine.
Kozlowski's share of the restitution was $97 million. His
co-defendant Mark Swartz, Tyco's former chief finance officer, paid
$37 million.
But the former executive also drew a distinction between his actions
at Tyco between 1999 and 2002 and companies such as Enron that went
bust in 2001. Enron left thousands of workers without jobs and
retirement savings.
"Tyco today is a healthy company," Kozlowski said. "Unlike other
companies at that time, nobody lost their 401ks or things like that.
That did not happen at Tyco. It's not like Enron."
Kozlowski spent nearly seven years at the Mid-State Correctional
Facility, a medium security prison in Marcy, New York, about 250
miles north of New York City, where he worked as a laundry porter.
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He has been serving the last of his sentence in a work-release
program through the Lincoln Correctional Facility in Manhattan.
Since July, he has lived on his own, reporting to a counselor there
twice a week, according to the transcript.
Kozlowski told the parole board he was now residing with a woman
in an apartment, but her name and the location were redacted from
the transcript.
He said he works as a clerk in a software company that helps
veterans, former offenders and others get jobs, preparing proposals,
proofreading and making copies. He said he does not handle money.
Kozlowski was granted parole after being denied his first bid in
April 2012. The board at the time said releasing him early would
"deprecate the seriousness" of his crimes and "undermine respect for
the law."
Kozlowski's co-defendant Mark Swartz, Tyco's former chief financial
officer, also is scheduled to be paroled in January.
[By Karen Freifeld © 2013 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; editing by Bernard Orr) Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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