An attorney for the state Parole Board told a judicial panel today that former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski — who’s serving time for fleecing company coffers to support his lavish lifestyle — should be kept in the clink because letting him out early would “undermine respect for the law.”
“Dennis Kozlowski stole $100 million,” the state’s lawyer Mark Shawhan argued at the Appellate Division, in an attempt to reverse a lower court judge’s decision to give the exec a second parole hearing.
“The severity of the inmate’s offense outweighs other factors,” he said in court papers. During the white collar scandal Tyco shares plummeted from a high of $32 to a low of just $7.
Kozlowski attorney Alan Lewis countered that the his client should be rewarded for his good behavior in prison, where he’s served over seven years of an 8- to 25-year sentence.
Last April was his first opportunity at parole and he was denied by the board because his release was not “compatible with the welfare of society at large.”
Kozlowski, 66, who famously spent the looted funds on a $6,000 gold shower curtain and $14 million in fine art including a Monet and Renoir, earned “merit time” off his sentence for staying out of trouble and completing a substance abuse program.
“It promotes respect for the law when the Department of Corrections honors the deal it makes with its inmates,” Lewis said.
The ousted chief had to pay $100 million in restitution and a $70 million fine. He’s currently in a work release program and only spends two night a week in lockup.
A second, regularly scheduled parole hearing in September could come before the Appellate court issues a decision, expected by the fall.
jmarsh@nypost.com