Grasso case ‘over’ after court dismisses pay claims

Former New York Stock Exchange chief Richard Grasso won a knockout victory Tuesday in his four-year fight to keep every last penny of his $187.5-million pay package.

A New York appeals court threw out the state’s remaining claims against Grasso, 61, giving him a second court victory in a week and prompting New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo to throw in the towel.

The 3-1 ruling by the New York Supreme Court’s appellate division follows the dismissal of other claims last week by the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

The appellate division said the case, brought under state law governing not-for-profit companies, could not be pursued because the exchange was now a publicly traded, for-profit company, NYSE Euronext.

The court also threw out a lone claim against Kenneth Langone, a former NYSE director and head of its compensation committee.

Cuomo spokesman Alex Detrick said an appeal wasn’t warranted and that “for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over.”

Grasso was “gratified” by the ruling, his lawyer said in a statement. “His devotion to the stock exchange never wavered, and neither did his faith that he would be vindicated by the courts,” the lawyer said.

The case was brought by former Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer, who had become a political star in large part for his crusading prosecution of powerful Wall Street figures.

He won election as governor by a landslide in 2007, but resigned in March after being caught up in a prostitution scandal.