NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? L. Dennis Kozlowski, the imprisoned former chief executive officer of Tyco International Ltd., has spent $25 million to defend himself at two trials and asked a judge to direct an insurance broker to turn over papers that will help pay his legal bills.

Kozlowski, 59, asked state Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman on May 25 in New York to direct London-based Willis Group Holdings Ltd. and two subsidiaries, Willis (Bermuda) Ltd. and Willis of New York, to turn over documents describing the terms of his coverage. Willis has refused to surrender the documents, Kozlowski's motion said.

The former executive is serving a prison term of 8 1/3 to 25 years after his conviction last year for stealing tens of millions of dollars from Tyco.

"Kozlowski incurred and paid legal fees in excess of $17.8 million," Jeffrey Glen, a Kozlowski lawyer, wrote. "The Tyco/Kozlowski files in the possession of Willis in Bermuda and in New York are likely to contain information relevant and necessary to the resolution of that claim."

Willis, the world's third-largest insurance broker, has documents on Kozlowski's policies and lawsuits over legal fees he filed against Warren, New Jersey-based Chubb Corp.'s Federal Insurance Co. unit. and Corporate Officers and Directors Assurance, Ltd., a Bermuda-based insurer owned by Ace Ltd., the motion said.

Freedman directed the Chubb unit in 2004 to pay Kozlowski's defence bills pending resolution of a lawsuit filed by the insurer seeking to rescind the coverage. Freedman has scheduled a hearing on the matter for June 14.

Kozlowski's defence costs mushroomed from $17.8 million to more than $25 million from May to July 2005, the papers say. A 2004 trial ended with a mistrial, and he was convicted at a retrial on June 17, 2005.

Mark Swartz, a former chief financial officer at Tyco, was convicted with Kozlowski and received the same sentence. The men are in separate New York state prisons.

Glen didn't return a call seeking comment.

Dan Prince, a spokesman for Willis, declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.