Wife of ex-Tyco chief files for divorce
Karen Kozlowski, wife of former Tyco International Ltd. Chairman L. Dennis Kozlowski, filed for divorce 14 months after her husband was convicted and later sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for looting his company.
Dennis Kozlowski once threw a $2 million 40th birthday party for his wife in Sardinia that became an issue at trial and a symbol of corporate excess. In a divorce petition filed July 31 in Delray Beach, Fla., she asked that the couple's assets and liabilities be split equally and that her imprisoned husband pay financial support.
``It's no surprise," said John Moscow, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney who led New York's prosecution of Kozlowski. ``The first wife put up the bail money. The first wife clearly had far more faith and confidence in him."
Dennis Kozlowski divorced his previous wife, Angie, in 2000. His current spouse's decision to file for divorce may complicate New York's attempt to collect money he was ordered to pay. Besides being sent to prison for 8 to 25 years, Kozlowski and ex-Tyco finance chief Mark Swartz were fined $70 million and $35 million, respectively, and ordered to pay $134 million in restitution.
So far, Kozlowski and Swartz have paid $108 million into an escrow account, said James Kindler, chief assistant Manhattan district attorney.
Charles Stillman, Swartz's lawyer, said Karen Kozlowski may not have a better claim than anyone else to her husband's assets.
``She may get in line but she's not getting to the front of the line," Stillman said.
The courts will have the final say on any division of assets between Kozlowski, his wife, and New York, Kindler said.
``The ruling of the Florida court will have a bearing," he added.
Dennis Kozlowski, 59, and Swartz, 46, were found guilty in June 2005 of looting Tyco, taking $600 million through illegal compensation and the sale of artificially inflated stock. They are appealing their convictions .
Karen Kozlowski is seeking a lien to protect her half of a residence in Boca Raton, Fla. The property is a 15,000- square-foot mansion the couple bought with no-interest Tyco loans for $19 million, according to the Associated Press. Karen Kozlowski is 45, the AP said.
Stephen Kaufman, Dennis Kozlowski's lawyer in New York, didn't return calls seeking comment. Karen Kozlowski's attorney, Jason Marks of Miami's Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin, confirmed the divorce proceedings and declined to comment further.
