Free Dennis Kozlowski

Excellent piece in the WSJ from Dan Ackman:

… But even if you believe the worst about Kozlowski and his co-defendant former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz, they were paid according to a contract, and that is not stealing.
…
There is no question that Kozlowski was paid according to the incentive compensation plans that were duly approved by the Tyco board in 1994 and again in 1997. The plans rewarded the CEO and CFO with bonuses based on improvements in company earnings, cash flow and earnings per share. Excessive? That's an understatement. But though the record-keeping was careless, nothing was secret: The contract and the payments were all on the books.