Grasso: Too Late to Settle With Spitzer

Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso said Tuesday that it was too late to settle a lawsuit filed by New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer over his $193-million pay package.

Since Spitzer filed suit nearly two years ago, he has deposed stock exchange officials and board members. At the same time, the back and forth has become a battle of egos that has included not only Wall Street’s top executives but also several New York politicians.

“I think it is way beyond that at this juncture,” Grasso told reporters as he went into a Manhattan lawyer’s office to give a deposition in the closely watched case.

Spitzer sued Grasso in May 2004, saying his pay package was excessive under New York’s not-for-profit law. He is seeking the return of a large part of the money, arguing that the former chairman’s pay was “unreasonable.”

Grasso was forced out of the NYSE in 2003 after an uproar over his compensation.

By coincidence, the deposition began on the day the Big Board closed its purchase of electronic rival Archipelago Holdings Inc. Archipelago and the NYSE will combine to form NYSE Group, which is due to start trading today, ending 213 years of the NYSE as a not-for-profit, member-owned exchange.

Grasso, who was in a jovial mood as he shook hands with reporters and exchanged greetings before the meeting began, said he expected the questioning to go on into next week.

“I’m going to answer all their questions,” he said. “They’ve got 35 1/2 years worth of questions, I’m sure, and whatever they are, I plan to answer.”

As for his defense, he said chief executives from Wall Street and the corporate world decided his pay package and exercised solid business judgment.

“They paid me what they believed to be fair and reasonable,” Grasso said.

New York Supreme Court Judge Charles Ramos has set Oct. 30 as the opening trial date, just a week before Spitzer seeks election as the state’s governor.