Former Tyco International chief Dennis Kozlowski, serving prison time for financing a lavish lifestyle by looting millions of dollars from the company, has reached a divorce settlement with his wife, their attorneys said Thursday.
Karen Kozlowski's lawyer, Jason Marks, said the couple reached a confidential agreement that would be filed soon in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. She filed for divorce in 2006, months after Kozlowski was sentenced to prison for fraud and other convictions in the Tyco scandal.
"Karen has been very supportive of Dennis' situation," Marks and co-counsel Alan Kluger said in an email statement. "She has been at his side from the beginning of all of his legal problems through the very end. The terms of their marital settlement agreement, although confidential, is a reflection of that support and commitment."
Dennis Kozlowski's attorney, Martin Haines III, said the agreement was worked out amicably.
"Many divorces are punctuated with anger and angst. This case is far more dominated by sadness," Haines said. "I think the two of them really cared for each other. This marriage was the victim of circumstances."
Karen Kozlowski, a former waitress who was Dennis Kozlowski's second wife, sought half of the couple's assets including her share of a 15,000-square-foot Boca Raton mansion they bought for $19 million. That waterfront home will now be sold.
The couple married in May 2001, and Kozlowski famously once threw her a $2 million, Roman-themed birthday party complete with costumed gladiators and togas on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.The party featured a performance by singer Jimmy Buffet and his band, who were flown in at a cost of $250,000, according to testimony as his criminal trial.
Dennis Kozlowski, once one of the country's highest-paid executives, is serving a prison term of between eight and 25 years in New York. He and another former executive were convicted of several charges involving the misuse of some $600 million in Tyco funds to finance opulent lifestyles.
Dennis Kozlowski could be released on parole as early as 2014, according to the New York corrections department Web site.
Tyco, based in Bermuda, emerged from the scandal and sells firefighting equipment, security systems, water works and valves and auto components, among other products. It has about 118,000 employees worldwide.
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