Dennis Kozlowski Says Steve Forbes Defamed Him

While he’s not teaching GED courses to fellow inmates, doing laundry for the child molesters in his cell unit and dreaming about vodka-pissing statues, Dennis Kozlowski is busy trying to repair his reputation. He’s given interviews to Morley Safer and other journalists and has been a model prisoner since he was convicted of fraud in 2005.

Koz is also, apparently, reading books about himself and now he’s suing billionaire Steve Forbes for what he claims are false and defamatory comments in in Forbes' 2009 book "Power, Ambition, Glory: The Stunning Parallels Between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today ... and the Lessons You Can Learn."

Koz is particularly miffed about about a line in the book that claims he "plundered" Tyco shareholders to "siphon off cash for himself." He also takes issue with a the contention that he bilked investors out of $400 million when the court only ordered him to pay $100 million in restitution. WTF Forbes? Just because a jury convicted Koz of fraud doesn’t mean he really did it.

I think the jury got it wrong. I believe I earned those bonuses. I think I’m here simply because of the times. People lost money in the stock market in 2001 and 2002. Somebody had to be blamed for that. I became the poster boy for that. I still firmly believe I am not guilty of any crime that they’ve charged me with and that the jury convicted me of.

Forbes obviously thinks that's total bullshit. "This is an absurd lawsuit," Steve Forbes said in a statement. "Mr. Kozlowski's reputation speaks for itself."

The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory damages, plus punitive damages equal to triple the compensatory award. John Prevas, a faculty member at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and co-author of the book, is also a defendant. Koz will go before a parole board for the first time in April 2012. He was sentenced to between 8 and 25 years in jail.