Tyco & Kozlowski

You remember Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco International, who was convicted in 2005 of crimes related to his receipt of $81 million in purportedly unauthorized bonuses, the purchase of art for $14.725 million for his $30 million New York City apartment which included $6,000 shower curtains and $15,000 "dog umbrella stands," and numerous other diversions of company funds. Kozlowski's North Hampton, NH. estate was auctioned off for $4.135 million after he was sent to jail. It looks like something out of Hearst Castle.

Who can forget the $2 million spent for the 40th birthday party for his wife by flying friends and corporate hotshots to the Italian island of Sardinia for fun and games including a Roman toga party complete with entertainment by Jimmy Buffet. There was a board meeting on the last day of the week of fun and frolic, and Kozlowski billed Tyco for ‘only’ $1 million.

Kozlowski is a non-repentant individual who not only used company funds for personal reasons but told Morley Safer in a 60Minutes interview that he did nothing different than prior CEOs of Tyco. He was playing by the ‘book.’ Kozlowski’s approach to ethics is called “ethical relativism.” This is when a person believes ethical decision-making is relative to the situation. In other words, everyone is free to define his or her ethics in situations encountered based on the prevailing facts – and pressures – at the time. Most ethicists would scoff at the suggestion that I define my own ethics.

Ethics is based on certain immutable ideas that include a set of core ethical values to be followed in all situations. For example, honesty and truthfulness are core values. Once a person starts to lie, deceive, or cover-up past actions, that person begins the slide down the ethical slippery slope and oftentimes there is no turning back. I always encourage my students to tell the truth when they have made an error in judgment – admit it; be remorseful and promise never to do it again; and change your behavior to avoid repeating the mistake.

I was pleased to learn that on Friday, August 10, Tyco and Kozlowski reached a tentative settlement in litigation over compensation before he was convicted and jailed in 2005 for a massive fraud. The civil litigation was filed in 2002 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Tyco accused Kozlowski of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Two years ago, a judge found Kozlowski liable on most claims and a trial scheduled to start this week would have decided any damages owed to the company.

Kozlowski, who is in his mid-60s, was convicted in June 2005 of securities fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records in New York State Supreme Court. A jury found that Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Marc Swartz stole $137 million from the conglomerate.

Kozlowski was sentenced to 8-1/3 years to 25 years in prison. The New York State parole board denied him parole in April.

Goldman Sachs & all the President’s Men

It’s high time we started to hold CEOs responsible for fraud at their companies. The buck should stop with those at the helm of these companies who knew, should have known,  and/or looked the other way while the fraud was committed. That is why I was dismayed to learn last week that the Justice Department won’t prosecute Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs or its employees in a financial fraud probe.

In a written statement, the department said it conducted an exhaustive investigation of allegations brought to light by a Senate panel investigating the 2008-2009 financial crisis. "The department and investigative agencies ultimately concluded that the burden of proof to bring a criminal case could not be met based on the law and facts as they exist at this time." But the department added that if additional or new evidence were to emerge, it could reach a different conclusion about prosecuting Goldman.

A Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Carl Levin in April 2011 found that Goldman marketed four sets of complex mortgage securities to banks and other investors but that the firm failed to tell clients that the securities were very risky. The Senate panel said Goldman secretly bet against the investors' positions and deceived the investors about its own positions to shift risk from its balance sheet to theirs.

The Obama administration is infested with people with ties to Goldman Sachs. Goldman was Obama’s biggest campaign contributor ($994,795) in 2008 and before that as a candidate to the Senate. Moreover, I can’t help but wonder whether ties to Robert Rubin, former co-Chairman of Goldman, head of Citicorp, and U.S. Treasury Secretary in the Clinton Administration, biased the decision. After all, protégés of Rubin include Larry Summers, Obama’s chief economic adviser and head of the National Economic Council, and Timothy Geithner, current Treasury Secretary and past president of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.   

It’s ironic that the Democrats accuse Mitt Romney of being an unfeeling capitalist while crony capitalism is practiced by the current administration. We, the People, deserve better from our elected officials. To allow Goldman executives to escape unscathed by a scandal they were part and parcel of, is, quite frankly, an outrage.

Blog posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on August 13, 2012