Tycoon in trouble

New York

Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and his second-in-command were charged last week with stealing $170 million from their own company, and hauling in another $430 million by selling artificially inflated stock. In one of the biggest rip-offs of the recent corporate scandals, Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, Tyco’s former chief financial officer, took tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized bonuses and falsified expense accounts, the indictment charges. The loot allegedly financed such luxuries as vacation homes, jewelry from Tiffany’s, and a multimillion-dollar birthday bash in Italy for Kozlowski’s wife. Kozlowski’s lawyer called the charges “unfounded and unfair.”