Tyco case disarray as jury splits

Dennis Kozlowski's extravagance has caught public attention

The trial of two former Tyco executives on charges of taking $600m (£330m) from the company may be close to collapse following splits within the jury.

Jury members sent the judge notes saying they may not be able to agree.

Despite the notes - one of which called the atmosphere "poisonous" after six days of deliberations - the judge denied defence calls for a mistrial.

Former chairman Dennis Kozlowski and finance chief Mark Swartz could face decades in jail if convicted.

Long term

The drama came as a defendant in another corporate corruption trial was sentenced to a long jail term.

The jury contends that one member has stopped deliberating in good faith... and believes they are being persecuted Note from Tyco jury to judge

Jamie Olis, a tax executive at Texas energy firm Dynegy, is facing 24 years in jail for his part in a complex set of transactions dubbed "Project Alpha".

The scheme was designed to disguise a $300m debt.

But the judge in the case said the length of the sentence - mandated by federal law - was unjustified for a first-time offender.

Six co-conspirators named in the case have not been charged, including Dynegy's former chief financial officer.

Acrimony

It remains to be seen whether Mr Kozlowski and Mr Swartz may face a similar fate.

The three notes sent by members of the 12-person jury made clear that the deliberations had run into trouble.

The first said the jury "contends that one member has stopped deliberating in good faith", and spoke of "incendiary accusations".

The lone juror, it said, felt "persecuted".

The second note - apparently from the solo jurymember - came 20 minutes later, and warned that other members "do not have an open mind as to the possibility of the defendants' innocence".

That suggests that most of the jury are leaning towards a guilty verdict - a view backed up by the third note, which stressed that the dissenter was on his or her own.

Extravagance

The trial centres on accusations that Mr Kozlowski and Mr Swartz stole $170m from Tyco through unauthorised bonuses and abusing loan programmes.

An additional $430m is said to have been illegally made by the pair by inflating the company's share price through hiding the true state of the company's finances.

The notoriety of the case is partly because of the interest in other cases of corporate wrongdoing, such as Enron and WorldCom.

But Mr Kozlowski's profligacy - he spent $6,000 on a shower curtain and $2m on a birthday party for his wife - has also ensured close public attention.

Tyco itself makes $36bn a year in sales of electronics and medical supplies.