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Dennis Kozlowski biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Dennis Kozlowski
  • OCCUPATION: Business Leader, White Collar Criminal
  • BIRTH DATE: November 16, 1946 (Age: 66)
  • EDUCATION: Seton Hall University
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Newark, New Jersey
  • Originally: Leo Dennis Kozlowski
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio

Best Known For

Dennis Kozlowski was the CEO of Tyco before he was convicted of various corporate crimes and sentenced to prison in 2005.

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Synopsis

Dennis Kozlowski was named CEO of Tyco in 1992 and is credited with a series of successful mergers and acquisitions as well as Tyco’s expansion in the late 1990s. Kozlowski became notorious for his extravagant lifestyle, and he was indicted for tax fraud regarding purchases of fine art. In June 2005, he was convicted of misappropriating more than $400 million of Tyco’s corporate funds.

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Profile

Business executive and convict. Born Leo Dennis Kozlowski on November 16, 1946 in Newark, New Jersey. The son of a public service investigator, Dennis Kozlowkski grew up in an apartment complex in west-central Newark. He graduated from Seton Hall University in 1968 and in 1970 took an auditing job in New York City with the conglomerate SCM Corp. Kozlowski joined Tyco in 1975, where he spent the next 27 years rising through the ranks as an exceptionally enterprising and effective manager.

In 1989, Kozlowski was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Tyco. In 1992, he was named CEO of the company. He was credited with a series of successful mergers and acquisitions as well as Tyco??s massive expansion in the late 1990s. Under Kozlowski??s leadership, Tyco's revenues rose by 48.7% a year from 1997 through 2001. Kozlowski??s total compensation also ballooned: from $8.8 million in 1997 to $67 million in 1998 to $170 million in 1999. During this time, Kozlowski became notorious for his extravagant lifestyle, allegedly having had Tyco pay for his $30 million New York City apartment and $1 million for his wife??s 40th birthday party on the Italian island of Sardinia.

In 2002, Kozlowski left Tyco amid a controversy regarding his compensation package. That year, he was indicted for tax fraud with regard to evading $1 million in New York sales tax from purchases of fine art. But this was minor compared to the second indictment shared with CFO Mark Swartz, which included 38 felony counts for pocketing $170 million from the company and $430 million through tainted sales of stock.

In June 2005, Kozlowski was convicted of misappropriating more than $400 million of Tyco??s corporate funds. He is currently serving at least eight years and four months at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York.


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