Trials start of ex-Tyco chief Kozlowski and Quattrone

The trials began yesterday in courtrooms just two blocks from one another in lower Manhattan of two men who have become symbols of the financial scandals of the late 1990s: Dennis Kozlowski, the former head of Tyco International, and Frank Quattrone, a former investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston.

Scrutiny of the Tyco trial will be especially intense. Mr Kozlowski, along with Tyco's former Chief Financial Officer, Mark Schwartz, are accused of illegally looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the firm and its shareholders. Both men have pleaded innocent, as has Mr Quattrone.

While Mr Schwartz, accompanied by his wife and children, braved a scrum of reporters outside the court, Mr Kozlowski opted to walk into the courthouse with only his lawyer in tow. Testimony was not expected to begin for several days as lawyers go through the initial jury selection process.

Media reports, meanwhile, seized on details of Mr Kozlowski's last days before his trial got underway. It is expected to last three months at least. On Saturday, Mr Kozlowski was host to a lavish wedding party for his daughter on the island of Nantucket, where he has a sprawling beach-side estate.

Mr Quattrone, who specialised in floating high technology start-ups, is accused of attempting to obstruct justice by encouraging employees at CFSB to destroy documents ahead of a grand jury investigation into how the bank distributed shares for some of the Initial Public Offerings it managed. Prosecutors in the Tyco trial will highlight the riches enjoyed by Mr Kozlowski when he led the Tyco conglomerate. They are expected to show the jury a videotape, for instance, of a birthday party thrown in Sardinia for his second wife, paid for by Tyco, with waiters in togas and an ice sculpture of Michelangelo's David, from which vodka flowed into glasses.

The Tyco case is critical for the government's efforts to show that the greed at the end of the Nineties boom that so disgusted investors can be met now with justice. "This is the big test: this is the first corporate greed case," commented former prosecutor John Fahy, referring to the Tyco trial. "They can't afford to lose. If they don't win here, they will be much more reluctant go after more."

Reports at the time that Mr Kozlowski was charged showed he spent company money without restrain on fancy art and furniture, including for his company apartment in Manhattan. Among the many extravagant purchases were a $6,000 (£3,600) shower curtain and a $15,000 antique umbrella stand.

Experts warned that choosing a jury might prove burdensome, in part because it was set to last for such a long time. Once the trial is under way, defence lawyers are expected to argue that the funds drawn by Mr Kozlowski - estimated at about $600m - were in fact bonuses and loans made with the full awareness of the Tyco board. They have indicated, however, that they will not allow the defendant to take the stand. This may be out of fear that questions from prosecutors will further damage his image before the jurors.