NEW YORK—Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced on Tuesday that he was giving New York City a total of $175 million. The money represents the proceeds of two major cases brought by the District Attorneys Office. Morgenthau hopes the funds will go towards offsetting city budget cuts to youth, crime and drug treatment programs.
$109 million represents the fines collected from Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz as part of the sentencing in the Tyco case. This money has been held until now awaiting appeals which were recently denied.
This case [Tyco] was an important example of our protecting the investing public from corporate executives who looted hundreds of millions of dollars from Tyco, Morgenthau said.
The remaining $66 million represents the Citys share of the money paid by Lloyds Bank TSB in settlement of the banks involvement in on-going Iranian stripping cases. The bank was helping customers skirt U.S. sanctions on business transactions with Sudan, Iran and Libya by deliberately removing customer information (a process Lloyds employees referred to as “stripping”), so that wire transfers would pass undetected through filters at U.S. financial institutions.
The Iranian stripping cases are very significant because we have shut down Irans ability to buy contraband (illegal imports and smuggled goods) using New York banks, explained Morgenthau.
The cash comes at a good time for New York, as budgets cuts heavily strip back city program funding.
Morgenthau said, I am delighted to be able to contribute this $175 million to the City at a time of economic distress. It is my hope that these funds can offset budget cuts to youth programs, drug treatment and other crime prevention programs.
