Wall Street Folly

Grasso would break bread with Spitzer, but only if he picks up the tab….

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Hookers, Politics, Scandal, Sex, Videos

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Hookers, Ken Langone, Lawsuit, NYSE

Attorney General  Andrew Cuomo won’t be appealing the case, paving the way for Grasso to keep his  $190 million NYSE payout. Grasso said he had "no malice" against his disgraced nemesis Eliot Spitzer for bringing the case.  At least that’s what he said publicly.  But oh, to be a fly on the wall of the celebration he must have had to hear what he really must be saying; he’d only be human if he had some less kind things to say…..

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Legal, NYSE

Former NYSE chairman Dick Grasso got more good news today.  The remaining charges in that pesky compensation lawsuit brought by the former Attorney General/Governor/"Client 9" Eliot Spitzer have been dismissed.  All that stands between Grasso and complete vindication is a possible appeal, which seems like a pretty remote possibility at this point.

“Unless it’s reversed on appeal, Grasso
has won this particular lawsuit, because there’s nothing left,” said Richard
Schulman, a lawyer with Bryan Cave in New York who isn’t involved in the case.

“We’re reviewing the decision,” Alex
Detrick, a spokesman for [Attorney General] Cuomo, said when asked about an
appeal.

We suspect that Cuomo won’t be going there.  Congratulations Mr. Grasso!
Grasso Wins Dismissal of Suit Over $190 Million Pay – Bloomberg

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Lawsuit, Legal, NYSE

A New York appeals court dismissed four of six claims against Richard
Grasso, the former New York Stock Exchange chairman, making it more difficult for the state to win its lawsuit over his $190 million pay package.

Grasso challenged the claims, noting the state attorney general lacks statutory authority to sue on behalf of the NYSE on the four claims. The court agreed with him on the four claims, in a 3-2 decision that sets the stage for a further appeal or an out-of-court settlement.

“I would think that with a new attorney general with very different priorities, there would be an incentive to settle,” said James Fishman, a law professor at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York.
“Grasso has been vindicated now, and he can move on with his life, and the attorney general may be happy about that as well.”

The state can take the case to the state’s highest court, the New York
Court of Appeals. If today’s ruling stands, the state can still go to
trial using the other two claims, for which the attorney general has
the power to sue under state law.

Grasso Wins Appeal of Lawsuit Over Stock Exchange Pay – Bloomberg

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Lawsuit, NYSE

As expected, former NYSE chairman Dick Grasso has asked an appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling that requires him to return part of his $187.5 million compensation package:

At a hearing before the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court, Gerson Zweifach, Mr. Grasso’s lawyer, said New York State Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Ramos erred in October when he granted a summary judgment request by the state attorney general’s office.

Mr. Zweifach said there are too many issues that remain in dispute about whether Mr. Grasso fulfilled his fiduciary duties to the Big Board and what the NYSE’s directors knew about his compensation package for the case to be decided without a trial. He said the case should be decided by a jury.

"It was error for the trial court to even attempt on summary judgment to decide what people knew and what Mr. Grasso should have known," he said.

Grasso Wants Trial by Jury – Wall Street Journal

Tags: Dick Grasso, Legal, NYSE

Did former NYSE head Dick Grasso kinda sorta forget to file NY City income tax returns in 2002 and 2003?  That’s what court papers allege according to the New York Post.  Grasso says ‘not so’ — he moved out of the city in 1974 and wasn’t a resident.:

New York State’s Department of Taxation is seeking to assess $1.8 million in penalties alone because it says Grasso’s main residence was a 3,000-square-foot, 10-room co-op in TriBeCa, rather than his massive, gated Locust Valley mansion on Long Island.

In October, The Post reported that Grasso has five separate homes, scattered from TriBeCa to Long Island to Florida and the Hamptons, in addition to 14 cars.

His primary legal tack, at least for the 2003 allegations, is to prove he didn’t spend 183 days in the city – the legal definition of a resident. [He says he spent 170 days in the city.]

Taxing Grasso – New York Post

Tags: Dick Grasso, NYSE

Speaking at the Reuters Investment Banking Summit in New York City on Monday, Wachtell Lipton founding partner and originator of the "poison pill" came out swinging in defense of multimillion-dollar executive pay packages, including Dick Grasso’s and Barry Diller’s:

Lipton defended former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso’s $187.5 million pay package, as well as IAC/InterActiveCorp CEO Barry Diller’s 2005 compensation, estimated at close to $300 million, saying both men had helped build great firms.

"Most of the high executive compensation has stemmed from the equity incentive plans and there’s no way in which they could have created that compensation unless the company prospered and the equity appreciated," Lipton argued at the Reuters Investment Banking Summit in New York.

"What’s wrong, in some cases, is that the executive compensation is not related to the performance of the company. But how does a company get and retain top flight management other than by compensating them appropriately," he asked.

Top M&A lawyer defends high executive pay – Reuters

Tags: Dick Grasso, Lawyers

A state supreme court judge says that former NYSE head Dick Grasso’s gonna have to repay part of the compensation package that Eliot Spitzer had attacked as excessive:

The lower court judge, who issued a partial summary judgment against Grasso, will decide separately how much he should repay from the $187.5 million compensation package and dismissed his claim for another $48 million from the exchange, said Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp.

Spitzer has been trying to recover some of the $187.5 million pay package Grasso received in 2003. An internal NYSE review known as the Webb report claimed up to $156.7 million of the pay package was excessive compared to most U.S. corporations.

Grasso has argued the exchange’s officers were aware of the package when
it was approved.

Judges Orders Grasso to Pay Back Funds – AP via MSNMoney

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, NYSE

It sounds like the judge in the Dick Grasso – Eliot Spitzer pay feud has played right into Spitzer’s hands.  Judge Charles Ramos granted a motion by Mr. Spitzer that sought a trial without a jury.  He got his wish; the judge will rule from the bench.  He also agreed to postpone the start of the trial to October 16 from September 5.

“The judge ruled granting our motion to have a bench trial,” said Marc Violette, a spokesman for Spitzer’s officer. “It will be on the major issue at play and that is the question of excessive compensation.”

Grasso’s lawyers will be appealing the decision.

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Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer

Charlie Gasparino in Squawkblog: One of the consequences of the judge in the Elliot Spitzer vs Dick Grasso legal fight moving the trial date forward to September 5 from October 30 is that Grasso can’t use his pitbull attorney Brendan Sullivan.  The expected six week trial coincides with another case that Sullivan is involved in: the third retrial of former Cendant chairman Walter Forbes by the US Attorney’s office in New Jersey.

Grasso loses Brendan Sullivan – Squawkblog

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Ken Langone, Lawsuit, NYSE

Dick Grasso’s excess compensation trial which was expected to begin in late October now has a September 5 start date….

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Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Ken Langone, NYSE

The suit must go on:  Billionaire Ken Langone’s request to dismiss NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s lawsuit over his role in approving former NYSE Chairman Dick Grasso’s pay package was denied by State Supreme Court Judge Charles Ramos.

“You are asking me to total up all the evidence,” State Supreme Court Judge Charles Ramos told lawyers for Langone in a hearing today in New York. “This case requires a trial.”

Judge Denies Langone’s Motion to Dismiss Spitzer Pay Suit – Bloomberg

Tags: Dick Grasso, Eliot Spitzer, Ken Langone, Lawsuit, NYSE