Tyco International

During the 1990s, Tyco International, under the leadership of CEO Dennis (“Deal-a-Month-Dennis”) Kozlowski, had become one of the most admired publicly owned conglomerates on Wall Street. The electronics and medical supplies company achieved $36 billion in annual revenue, consisted of more than 2,300 subsidiaries, and employed more than 270,000 people. Kozlowski was among the highest paid corporate executives in the United States, receiving more than $286 million in compensation from 1997 through 2001, including $137.5 million in 2000 alone.

But beginning in 1995, Kozlowski and Chief Financial Officer Mark Swartz started stealing what would amount to $170 million from Tyco in unauthorized loans and bonuses and defrauding investors of an additional $430 million through tainted stock sales. Kozlowski and Swartz filed materially false annual reports and ...