Prosecutors say the two stole $170 million by claiming unauthorized compensation.

NEW YORK (AP) – Prosecutors accused L. Dennis Kozlowski and another executive Tuesday of raiding Tyco International to pay for lavish homes and decadent parties, while defense lawyers said the pair deserved every dollar they got.

The former Tyco CEO and Mark Swartz, the company’s former chief financial officer, are accused of stealing $600 million and lying about it in a case that came to symbolize executive excess, down to a $6,000 shower curtain.

According to prosecutor Kenneth Chalifoux, they “didn’t win the jackpot, they stole it.”

Chalifoux said the crimes came despite the duo’s handsome salaries. In 2000, Kozlowski earned $106 million in pay and Swartz $54 million.

Kozlowski, 56, and Swartz, 45, face larceny charges, enterprise corruption – a charge usually aimed at organized crime figures – and lesser offenses that include filing false business records and conspiracy.

Each could get up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say the two stole $170 million by claiming unauthorized compensation and made another $430 million on their Tyco shares by lying about the conglomerate’s financial condition from 1995 into 2002.

Defense attorneys argued in court that Tyco’s compensation committee rewarded senior executives based on annual goals. Pay and bonus recommendations were approved by an outside auditor, said Kozlowski attorney Stephen Kaufman.

“There is no second set of books. There is no person who’s going to come in here and speak in hush-hush tones about secret payments,” Kaufman said.

“How could Mark have been trying to steal when the company’s external auditor was aware of everything?” asked Charlie Stillman, Swartz’s lawyer.

The Tyco leaders’ luxurious lifestyles first attracted attention when Kozlowski was charged in August 2002 with evading more than $1 million in New York state sales tax on $13 million worth of art, including paintings by Renoir and Monet.

A closer look by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission later revealed huge expenditures, payments and loans that prosecutors say were illegal.

Besides the shower curtain, prosecutors say Kozlowski used company money to buy a $15,000 umbrella stand, a $2,200 gilt metal wastebasket and a $445 pin cushion.

In a now-famous example, Kozlowski also allegedly charged Tyco for at least part of a $2 million birthday party for his wife on a Mediterranean island. The party featured an ice sculpture of Michelangelo’s statue David squirting vodka into crystal glasses.

Swartz is accused of using millions of Tyco dollars for personal investments and real estate speculation. He allegedly worked with Kozlowski to take millions of dollars in improper bonuses and loans, which he did not have to repay.

Tyco, which has about 270,000 employees, makes electronics and medical supplies and owns the ADT home security business. It is nominally based in Bermuda but has its operations headquarters in Exeter, N.H.