Tyco Lawyer Belnick Acquitted

Prosecutors in the Tyco(TYC Quote) corporate corruption trial suffered another blow Thursday when a New York jury acquitted the company's former top lawyer on grand larceny charges.

The innocent verdict in the case against Mark Belnick comes three months after a mistrial was declared in the corruption trial of Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco's former chairman and chief executive, and Mark Swartz, the company's former chief financial officer.

The jury rendered its verdict after five days of deliberation. Belnick had been charged with grand larceny for accepting a $17 million bonus, which New York prosecutors claimed Tyco's board had not approved. He also was charged with stock fraud and falsifying business records.

Belnick is a former partner with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, a top New York law firm. Earlier in his career, he had been a legal adviser to the congressional committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair during President Reagan's administration.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office intend to retry Kozlowski and Swartz. The two are charged with looting the corporate conglomerate, which owns ADT Security Services.