Nothing in the holding or reasoning of either Levandusky or Pullman suggests that there is a safe harbor from judicial inquiry for directors who are alleged to have engaged in conduct not protected by the business judgment rule. Moreover, there is no principle of corporate law that director liability arises only where the director commits a tort independent of the tort committed by the corporation itself. On the contrary, it has long been held by this Court that "a corporate officer who participates in the commission of a tort may be held individually liable, . . . regardless of whether the corporate veil is pierced" (Peguero v 601 Realty Corp., 58 AD3d 556, 558 [2009] [internal quotation marks omitted], quoting Espinosa v Rand, 24 AD3d 102, 102 [2005], quoting American Express Travel Related Servs. Co. v North Atl. Resources, 261 AD2d 310, 311 [1999]; Savannah T & T Co., Inc. v Force One Express Inc., 58 AD3d 409 [2009]; cf. Polonetsky v Better Homes Depot, 97 NY2d 46, 55 [2001] ["In actions for fraud, corporate officers and directors may be held individually liable if they participated in or had knowledge of the fraud, even if they did not stand to gain personally"]; Marine Midland Bank v Russo Produce Co., 50 NY2d 31, 44 [1980], citing Lippman Packing Corp. v Rose, 203 Misc 1041, 1044 [1953] [which noted, even then, that "a long list of cases . . . ha(d) . . . held that the officers, directors and agents of a corporation are jointly and severally liable for torts committed [*4]on behalf of a corporation and the fact that they also acted on behalf of the corporation does not relieve them from personal liability"]).