Already, they want out.
Not one day into their prison terms, tainted Tyco tycoons Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz have sent their lawyers to a state appellate judge to argue they should be freed on bail pending appeal.
The legal teams and Manhattan prosecutors had a closed-door hearing yesterday with Appellate Judge Angela Mazarelli.
She asked the defense to submit written bail arguments by tomorrow. Prosecutors have until Monday to respond. The judge said she’ll decide sometime after that.
Ex-CEO Kozlowski, 58, and ex-CFO Swartz, 45, were sentenced Monday to 81/3 to 25 years in prison for looting the international conglomerate out of $600 million in bogus bonuses and proceeds from their sale of fraudulently inflated company stock.
Defense lawyers will likely argue that other executives convicted of white-collar frauds and larcenies are free pending their appeals.
They include former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, 64, and Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas, 80.
“I think that their prospects are good because they knew when they were out on bail that they were going to get a serious sentence, and yet they came to court,” defense attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said of the pair.
The two’s previous bails were nothing short of astronomical.
Kozlowski’s was $100 million, secured by $10 million from his ex-wife, who’d made out like a bandit in their divorce.
Swartz had posted $5 million in collateral to secure a $50 million bond.