NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) - Former Tyco International Chief
Financial Officer Mark Swartz, who is serving a prison sentence
for looting the company, has sued for $60 million in retirement
and other money he says he is owed.
The lawsuit, which was made public on Monday, accuses Tyco
of breach of contract and unjust enrichment for not paying him
some $48 million from an executive retirement agreement, $9
million in reimbursement for New York taxes, and other money.
Tyco spokesman Paul Fitzhenry did not immediately return a
call and an email seeking comment.
Swartz was convicted of grand larceny and securities fraud
in 2005, along with former Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski.
They are each serving sentences of 8-1/3 to 25 years.
In his lawsuit, filed in New York state Supreme Court,
Swartz charges the company knew the Manhattan District Attorney
intended to bring criminal charges against him when it approved
the main contract at issue in the lawsuit.
"The directors and management of Tyco approved the subject
agreement with actual knowledge that he was shortly to be
indicted," the lawsuit said.
In a case between Tyco and Kozlowski, a federal judge ruled
in 2010 that Kozlowski couldn't collect millions in benefits he
claimed were owed him.
Swartz was chief financial officer of the industrial
conglomerate from 1995 through 2002. He was indicted in
September 2002 and convicted in June 2005. Besides the prison
sentence, he paid $72 million in court-ordered restitution and
fines.
Since September, Swartz has been assigned to Lincoln
Correctional Facility in New York city, a minimum-security
facility where Kozlowski also is based, according to the state
Department of Corrections.
Swartz is on a furlough schedule where he can leave on
Wednesdays and return on Monday. He is scheduled to appear
before the Parole Board in September 2013.
Kozlowski, whose purchase of a $6,000 shower curtain made
him a symbol of corporate greed, was denied parole in April.
Tyco is a Switzerland-based holding company that includes
diversified manufacturing and service units, including making
security systems.
The case is Mark H. Swartz v. Tyco International Ltd., New
York State Supreme Court, No. 651533/2012.
(Reporting By Karen Freifeld)
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