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American Morning
'Minding Your Business'
Aired October 24, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More news of CEO spending sprees. That $6,000 shower curtain was nothing, compared to what Dennis Kozlowski spent on his friends. And now, actually some of them are talking -- in court.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Hey, good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
I guess the words are salacious, lascivious. I sound like Wal Clyde Frazier (ph). The Dennis Kozlowski trial really heating up yesterday, and some interesting stuff. A self-described former mistress testifying yesterday -- that's his wife. That is not the mistress. That's Dennis Kozlowski going into court.
But a woman named Barbara Jacques (ph), a former marketing executive at Tyco -- you know, this is the $600 million trial -- talking about gifts and perks bestowed upon her, really amazing stuff. Let's look here.
Now, you know, she was a secretary...
O'BRIEN: She made $95,000 a year.
SERWER: She made $95,000 a year, that's right, but that was nothing. This is what she got: half a million dollar co-op in New York. Then she wanted a Florida home. The company paid for that. Then the 60,000, let's be fair here, that was a gain off the sale of the Florida house. She got 60,000 and went up and bought a place in New Hampshire. You know, and then the beat goes on and on.
You look at the bonus pools -- the reason why this woman is so critical, because she and the other two guys, Kozlowski and Swartz, were the only people who got bonuses out of this pool. Gee, she was having intimate relations with him, as they say. Look at this, $25 million for Dennis, the CEO, the CFO gets 12, and then she gets $1 million.
Other stuff that happened in the trial yesterday, testimony from a jewelry salesman at Harry Winston saying that Dennis Kozlowski picked up hundreds of thousands of dollars, a quarter of a million dollars of jewelry and earrings that he paid for...
O'BRIEN: Five earrings.
SERWER: Yes, that's a lot of money for earrings.
O'BRIEN: One hundred and ten thousand dollars for just one pair.
SERWER: That's a lot. Right. And so, getting this out of a special account, he wanted all kinds of special invoices. Obviously, he was probably trying to fudge these things, or at least that's what investigators are alleging.
One other thing: Tis woman helped plan that infamous party in Sardinia...
O'BRIEN: For his wife.
SERWER: ... for the wife. So, you get the ex-girlfriend...
O'BRIEN: That's a helpful girlfriend.
SERWER: ... to plan the party for the wife. Jack's shaking his head. You know, me too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The aristocrats.
SERWER: Yes, right.
CAFFERTY: Remember?
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: What do you call that act? The aristocrats.
SERWER: Yes, it's pretty unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: The trial resumes I think on Monday, so we'll watch it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 24, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More news of CEO spending sprees. That $6,000 shower curtain was nothing, compared to what Dennis Kozlowski spent on his friends. And now, actually some of them are talking -- in court.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Hey, good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
I guess the words are salacious, lascivious. I sound like Wal Clyde Frazier (ph). The Dennis Kozlowski trial really heating up yesterday, and some interesting stuff. A self-described former mistress testifying yesterday -- that's his wife. That is not the mistress. That's Dennis Kozlowski going into court.
But a woman named Barbara Jacques (ph), a former marketing executive at Tyco -- you know, this is the $600 million trial -- talking about gifts and perks bestowed upon her, really amazing stuff. Let's look here.
Now, you know, she was a secretary...
O'BRIEN: She made $95,000 a year.
SERWER: She made $95,000 a year, that's right, but that was nothing. This is what she got: half a million dollar co-op in New York. Then she wanted a Florida home. The company paid for that. Then the 60,000, let's be fair here, that was a gain off the sale of the Florida house. She got 60,000 and went up and bought a place in New Hampshire. You know, and then the beat goes on and on.
You look at the bonus pools -- the reason why this woman is so critical, because she and the other two guys, Kozlowski and Swartz, were the only people who got bonuses out of this pool. Gee, she was having intimate relations with him, as they say. Look at this, $25 million for Dennis, the CEO, the CFO gets 12, and then she gets $1 million.
Other stuff that happened in the trial yesterday, testimony from a jewelry salesman at Harry Winston saying that Dennis Kozlowski picked up hundreds of thousands of dollars, a quarter of a million dollars of jewelry and earrings that he paid for...
O'BRIEN: Five earrings.
SERWER: Yes, that's a lot of money for earrings.
O'BRIEN: One hundred and ten thousand dollars for just one pair.
SERWER: That's a lot. Right. And so, getting this out of a special account, he wanted all kinds of special invoices. Obviously, he was probably trying to fudge these things, or at least that's what investigators are alleging.
One other thing: Tis woman helped plan that infamous party in Sardinia...
O'BRIEN: For his wife.
SERWER: ... for the wife. So, you get the ex-girlfriend...
O'BRIEN: That's a helpful girlfriend.
SERWER: ... to plan the party for the wife. Jack's shaking his head. You know, me too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The aristocrats.
SERWER: Yes, right.
CAFFERTY: Remember?
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: What do you call that act? The aristocrats.
SERWER: Yes, it's pretty unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: The trial resumes I think on Monday, so we'll watch it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
