In a 4-0 decision, the Appellate Division, First Debarment  affirmed the convictions of L. Dennis Kowzlowski and Mark H. Swartz.  Newsday, in fine journalistic tradition, had this to say :

A state appeals court said Thursday it disagreed, upholding the 2005 convictions of ex-CEO Kozlowski and former finance chief Swartz. Their massive theft and purchases of such luxuries as a $6,000 shower curtain came to symbolize corporate excess and cupidity.

It’s always the shower curtain.

There’s nothing particularly notable about the decision, almost entirely based on the court’s determination that the evidence of guilt was sufficient to show not only the procedural requirements of the gazillion dollar bonuses were not met, but that the defendants had no substantive entitlement to the money regardless.  Of course, it didn’t help that they took a bunch of forgivable loans for one purpose, spent them on silly nouveau riche stuff and looked damn foolish.

But there is one interesting aspect.  Here’s the list of lawyers for the appellants: 

Martin & Obermaier, New York (John S. Martin of counsel) and Stephen E. Kaufman, P.C., New York (Stephen E. Kaufman and Andrew Kaufman of counsel) and Bryan Cave, LLP, New York (James R. DeVita, Austin V. Campriello, Beth Brandler, Cari Sommer and Kathryn E. Gebert of counsel), for L. Dennis Kozlowski appellant.

Stillman, Friedman & Shechtman, P.C., New York (Nathaniel Z. Marmur, Michael J. Grudberg, Lara A. Shalov and Mary Margulis-Ohnuma of counsel), for Mark H. Swartz appellant.

Here’s the lawyers for the respondent:

Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York
(Amyjane Rettew and Gina Mignola of counsel), for respondent.

There aren’t enough seats at the appellant’s table in the First Department for that many lawyers, including former federal judge John Martin and former United States Attorney Otto Obermaier.  Big guns got beat by some public servants.  I wonder what happened to the shower curtain?  No, I didn’t change sides, I just find it interesting when the whitest shoes in criminal defense get all scuffed.