Trenton, N.J. – Tyco International Ltd. will pay the Securities and Exchange Commission a $50 million civil penalty to settle allegations that the high-tech conglomerate's prior management violated securities laws, cooked the books and overstated financial results by at least $1 billion. Under the proposed settlement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC's enforcement division will decide how to distribute the $50 million to harmed investors, rather than the government keeping it all, said James Coffman, assistant director of the division. He said his division is still investigating other people who may have been involved in the fraud. The SEC's civil complaint states the accounting fraud and other violations occurred from 1996 through mid-2002. That's when former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski snapped up more than 700 companies, trying to turn little-known Tyco into a global manufacturing and services powerhouse with perpetual earnings growth.