Spitzer Spurns Further Grasso Talks
New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday that he had tried and failed to reach an agreement with Richard Grasso to recover some of the former New York Stock Exchange chairman’s $140 million in pay and now planned to take the case to trial.
“It’s absolutely inconceivable that I’m settling it now,” Spitzer said at a conference in New York sponsored by Money magazine. “I tried for months to settle that case and it was met with a brick wall on the other side. They may change their view. I will not. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it. I’m ready for trial.”
Spitzer sued Grasso last month under New York’s not-for-profit-corporation law to recover at least $100 million. He accused Grasso of manipulating the exchange’s directors and the process by which they determined the former chairman’s compensation.
Eric Starkman, a spokesman for Grasso, declined to comment Tuesday.
Stephen Cutler, director of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also investigated Grasso, said he was supportive of “what Eliot is doing as a general matter” but that the SEC lacked the jurisdiction to go after Grasso.
The case concerns whether Grasso’s pay was excessive, Cutler said.
“That’s not a violation of federal securities laws last time I checked,” he said.
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