Bonfire of the vanities

[Eugene D. Gallagher]

Nominee for poster boy for the recent ethical problems contributing to
the Wall Street swoon: L. Dennis Kozlowski.
[Adds another name to the science vs. non-science use of initial
initials]

The Globe ran 3 articles on Kozlowski's & TYCO's downfall today.
Kozlowski, earning $62 million in 2001, was a bit too clever in avoiding
taxes.
He took advantage of the corporate loophole to incorporate the NH-based
TYCO
in Bermuda. Nothing illegal there. He bought $13 million in art,
including
a Monet & Renoir, using a corporate interest-free loan, since repaid.
Nothing
illegal there. Then, he allegedly arranged to have the paintings shipped
to his NH home to avoid paying $1 million in NY sales tax. On some early
paintings, he actually shipped the paintings to NH before shipping them
back to NY. On his later purchases, he just shipped the empty boxes
to NH while having the dealer hang the paintings in his NY apartment.

From the Globe article:
"Later in December, according to the indictment,
five more paintings were acquired for $8.8 million
from another New York City dealer. Kozlowski allegedly
asked the dealer to ship empty boxes to
New Hampshire, and the paintings to his apartment.
Morgenthau [the NY DA] produced a memo allegedly
written by one consultant, addressed to an art handler,
which read: "Here are the five paintings to go to
New Hampshire (wink, wink)."

Tyco stock has plummeted by 70%, with the latest drop
costing TYCO over $1 billion in a proposed sale of
a subsidiary. Kozlowski should be ok with a severance
package that could pay him up to $100 million
(the Globe business editor argues that the TYCO board
may want to reduce this amount).
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/156/business/Kozlowski_is_indicted_on_sales_tax_evasion_charges+.shtml

[Peter]

This response is a non-sequitur as to the contents of your posting, but
relevant. We recently moved to a newly constructed co-op. Our vanity,
together with several others vanity was defective. The replacements just
arrived. When I inquired what they were doing with the old vanities, <do I
really need to finish this?>

--
Peter

There are few situations in life that cannot be resolved
promptly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned,
by either suicide, a bag of gold, or thrusting a
despised antagonist over a precipice on a dark night.
Ernest Bramah (Kai Lung stories)

"Eugene D. Gallagher" <Eugene.G...@umb.edu> wrote in message
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