Manhattan DA Gives $175 Million To NYC From Tyco, Lloyds Probes

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau on Tuesday turned over to New York City officials $175 million his office received from two major business cases.

In a press release, Morgenthau announced his office gave the city $109 million in fines received in its criminal case against former Tyco International Ltd. (TYC) top executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz.

Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive, and Swartz, the company's ex-chief financial officer, were convicted in 2005 on charges they systematically looted the company. New York's highest court upheld their convictions last October.

Morgenthau's office also turned over to the city $66 million received as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with Lloyds TSB Group PLC's (LYG) banking unit. Last month, Lloyds TSB agreed to pay $350 million in fines and forfeiture to Morgenthau's office and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Between the mid-1990s and 2007, Lloyds TSB's banking unit deliberately altered wire transfer information that allowed $350 million in transactions by clients in Iran, Sudan and other countries to avoid detection, prosecutors said. Lloyds TSB is cooperating with the probe.

The practice, known as "stripping," helps clients avoid filters used by U.S. banks to detect transactions from countries under U.S. sanctions.

Morgenthau previously gave New York state, which is facing a large budget deficit, $109 million his office received from the Lloyds TSB agreement.

-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; [e-mail]