Former Tyco Chief in Jail for Multiple Felonies Speaks About The Injustice of His Sentence and

Illustrates Why He Belonged in Jail

The former CEO of Tyco effectively looted the company for millions for his own benefit, despite the fact that in one year alone his compensation was over $100 million. In an interview he gives his side of the story, and it doesn’t help him all that much. First of all, here are some of the crimes.

Mr. Kozlowski was found guilty in June 2005 on 22 of 23 counts, including grand larceny, conspiracy and securities fraud, stemming from giant bonuses and other improper compensation he got as Tyco's CEO

And he received a sentence of 8 ½ to 25 years in jail.  Mr. K (not to be confused with Coach K, his exact moral opposite) thinks he got a raw deal.

Mr. Kozlowski said he believes he was treated more harshly than other convicted former executives. "My sentence is the same as people who brought down Enron and WorldCom," he said. While those companies disappeared, "Tyco investors have enjoyed living off a lot of the assets that were accumulated by the management team that I had in place."

Mr. K has been turned down for a work release program, maybe because he doesn’t show a whole lot of remorse for his crimes, just a tendency to blame others.

The deposed Tyco chief also wishes he had chosen more seasoned people for his top team. "The lack of documentation was the key" in his conviction for taking unauthorized compensation, he said. "We needed somebody to rein us in and say all these things need better documentation."

The prison term has been a career success (if the career is being a prisoner) for Mr. K.

In prison, the former CEO has worked his way up from serving food and cleaning bathroom floors to picking up, doing and delivering laundry. He makes 80 cents a day. "There's no pay for performance here," he joked, clad in green fatigues and nearly 25 pounds lighter than during his Tyco days.

And on the plus side he does have career plans if he can get out on work release or parole.

Mr. Kozlowski hopes to take a work-release job with Access Technologies Group Inc., a small company in New Canaan, Conn., whose services include job-search training for ex-convicts . . . Once he leaves prison and joins Access, the former CEO hopes to set up a manufacturing facility that would mainly employ former convicts and military veterans. He said he has sounded out several former Tyco colleagues and others about investing in a New York-area plant

And maybe it is time to let him out of jail and see if he can do some actual good for society.  He should, however, remain impoverished for the rest of his life as a condition of release.  Hopefully his legal fees will do that to him.