Eye To Eye: Dennis Kozlowski — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:05hi I'm Katy krik welcome to IID to ey
3. 0:07when former Tao CEO Dennis kosloski was
4. 0:10convicted of looting hundreds of
5. 0:11millions of dollars from the company he
6. 0:13went from a life of extreme excess to
7. 0:15mopping floors and slinging hash in
8. 0:17prison earning a dollar a day kazlowski
9. 0:20spoke exclusively to morly safer about
10. 0:23the lifestyle that landed him behind
11. 0:26bars most of the money I earned was in
12. 0:28the appreciation of Tao stock one year
13. 0:30you made I think $170 million not sure
14. 0:33170 but I made over 100 million yeah
15. 0:35well more money than 10 million here 10
16. 0:38million there who cares but what's it
17. 0:40like to earn that kind of money it's a
18. 0:42way of keeping score keeping score meant
19. 0:45keeping up with the Masters of the
20. 0:46Universe $30 million to build a mansion
21. 0:50in boar Raton acquiring homes in
22. 0:53Nantucket and
23. 0:54Colorado and just loose change $16
24. 0:57million for endeavor a vintage yard he
25. 1:02joined the board of the Whitney Museum
26. 1:04he had Tao by a $19 million apartment
27. 1:08and decorated it with $1 million worth
28. 1:11of stuff would Dennis klaski a few years
29. 1:15ago even contemplated going to Europe to
30. 1:17buy old Master paintings no absolutely
31. 1:20not you know it came with earning the
32. 1:21amount of money I was earning at the
33. 1:22time was it your idea or were you
34. 1:25invited to join the board of the Whitney
35. 1:27oh I I it was not my idea at all I was
36. 1:29invited to join the board and I never
37. 1:31made a board meeting you invited because
38. 1:33they like having really rich guys on the
39. 1:36board uh I assume it wasn't for my
40. 1:38knowledge of
41. 1:40art but it was art that would lead to
42. 1:42his undoing the Manhattan District
43. 1:45Attorney's office was investigating
44. 1:47galleries that were helping customers
45. 1:49avoid sales taxes kazlowski had
46. 1:51purchased $13 million worth of paintings
47. 1:54including a Renoir and money for the Tao
48. 1:57apartment but prosecutors said he had
49. 2:00some of them shipped to Tao's offices in
50. 2:03New Hampshire a state without sales tax
51. 2:05they were then trucked back to New York
52. 2:08in 2002 the Manhattan District
53. 2:10Attorney's Office indicted Koslowski for
54. 2:13evading over a million dollar in sales
55. 2:16tax and he resigned as CEO but that was
56. 2:20only the beginning The Tao board
57. 2:22investigated its CEO's behavior and made
58. 2:25public a report that was devastating
59. 2:29koslow's excesses were revealed in
60. 2:31excruciating detail decorations for the
61. 2:34New York apartment became classic
62. 2:37tabloid headlines mocking the CEO's
63. 2:40taste and his greed the $115,000 doggy
64. 2:45umbrella stand and the ultimate symbol
65. 2:48of his downfall that $6,000 shower
66. 2:53curtain as overblown as the coverage may
67. 2:55have been you signed off on those things
68. 2:57I signed off on a decorator to uh
69. 3:00decorate The Tao apartment and beyond
70. 3:03that that was my involvement I the first
71. 3:06time I heard about that shower curtain
72. 3:08the first time was after I was out of
73. 3:10the company and I read about it in a
74. 3:12newspaper and I it was calling around
75. 3:14asking where's the showerer but to this
76. 3:16day I wouldn't know what if it fell on
77. 3:18me
78. 3:18[Music]
79. 3:20so and then there was the 40th birthday
80. 3:23party for koslowski's wife Karen in
81. 3:28Sardinia it was toga
82. 3:32Galore a 4-day festival of Flesh let's
83. 3:37[Music]
84. 3:38rock Jimmy Buffett was flown in for the
85. 3:42music and guests were treated to a
86. 3:45special cake an anatomically correct
87. 3:48woman with exploding
88. 3:51breasts the cost was over $2 million
89. 3:55since klosi claimed it was in part A
90. 3:58work retreat Tao footed half the bill
91. 4:02was it embarrassing for you when they
92. 4:04played that tape kind of Ro orgy going
93. 4:07on horrible it was over the top W look
94. 4:09at that I was taken back by it but I
95. 4:12smiled and worked my way through it
96. 4:14wanted the night to end as fast as I
97. 4:15could Donald Trump called your behavior
98. 4:19Tacky Tacky Tacky from Donald Trump from
99. 4:22Donald Trump oh well he would know so