CNBC reports that the New York Court’s Appellate Division has thrown out a judgment that former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso must return part of his $187.5 million compensation package, a ruling Charlie “LaMotta” Gasparino described as a “near TKO.” A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said that an appeal “would not be warranted” and “for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over.” In other Grasso-related legal news, a judge has adjourned the case against Frederick Grasso, the Lackawana animal control officer accused of killing three stray cats. Grasso’s arraignment has been moved to July 8.

Former NYSE chair Dick Grasso recently left a voicemail for Charlie Gasparino. Know what it said? “Happy holidays.” Why did this seemingly innocuous message scare the fuck out of Charlie, who takes no shit or prisoners, and who is known for yelling at/cutting off/berating his colleagues on air (especially Joe Kernen, but let’s face it, that guy has it coming) and leaning so far up into the camera that you feel as though he’s about to grab you by the collar, shove you up against the wall and demand to know where his “fucking money” is*? I don’t know, apparently it has something to do with a book he wrote calling the Grass-man a midget and implying that he has illegitimate children up and down the Eastern Seaboard. “It was a little scary,” Gasparino told Page Six. But looked himself in the mirror and said, “You’re fucking Charlie Gasparino, you don’t take no shit or prisoners, make the call.” And it turned out they “had a perfectly nice conversation.” Don’t you love happy endings between two boys from the old neighborhood?

Thick-skinned [New York Post]

*BTW, we’d like to see more of this dynamic style from CNBC’s on air-talent, especially from Trish Regan and Mark Haines, who would be naturals.

Charlie Gasparino’s new book is called King of the Club—a reference to its ostensible subject, Dick Grasso, who oversaw the triumphant comeback of New York Stock Exchange in the challenging days following the September 11th attacks but quickly found himself forced out and under fire from New York State’s Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer.

But reading the book makes it increasingly obvious that Spitzer himself could be called King of the Club for the brutal ways he treated the subjects of his investigations. Yesterday Page Six detailed one example of how Spitzer’s team attempted to pursue allegations of an extra-marital affair, presumably to embarrass Grasso or lure him into a perjury trap if he denied the allegations. But Gasparino’s book reveals that it didn’t stop there—indeed, this seems to have become standard operating procedure for Spitzer’s club.

[More on Spitzer’s smear machine after the jump.]

You probably forgot about that 2004 Spitzer suit against Dick Grasso, which is (still!) trying to take more than half of the former NYSE chief’s $190 million compensation back (because it supposedly violates state law for non-profits) but we bet you can guess who hasn’t. [Game show announcer voice] Charlie Gasparino, come on down! The CNBC reporter has a book out today called “King of the Club—Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange” filled with all sorts of details surrounding the case that you’ve been dying to read about (the adversity Grasso has had to overcome as a person with such a tiny head and almost obscenely pointy ears, the fact that this whole thing is the escalation of a petty argument started in a men’s room back in 1989, when Spitzer asked Grasso to move one urinal down—they were the only ones in there, why did Grasso need to use one right next to him?—and Grasso refused) and then maybe some you never asked for? Like the fact that Grasso might have a “love child” with a woman named Karen Ross (no relation to Brushstrokes Bob, some to Diana), his “best friend growing up”? Anyway. Guess our point is— if the Neptune Beach Club had had urinal dividers back in the day, this whole thing (the lawsuit, the book, this post) never would’ve come to pass. And what a tragedy that would’ve been.

Spitz Suspected Grasso Affair [NYP]

via the E-man. [Crossing Wall Street]

We realize that every time we write about another Geoffrey Raymond masterpiece (Grasso, Blankfein, etc.), we’re only encouraging him. But it’s that long stretch of afternoon when there’s not too much to post about (admit it: that last Jobs one, save for the fantastic accompanying picture, didn’t make your DB Top Ten list); so we’re going to indulge him, once again. After the jump, his latest portrait. Let us just say, the resemblance is striking.

In an interview today, former NYSE chair Dick Grasso told Bloomberg that the total costs of his lawsuit challenging his infamous compensation package maybe be over $100 million. But guess what? He doesn’t care. “What this case is about is honor,” Grasso offered, in what, oddly, sounded like an affected Italian accent. “It’s not about money anymore.” Grasso also told Bloomberg that “What we’re asking for is the right to go to trial, a trial by a jury of my peers, hopefully later this year. Once the whole story is told, my reputation will be vindicated and my case will be over turned.” We’re told that the following is a rough draft of the opening statement Grasso has prepared (to which we’ve added a few notes):

In the hopes of clearing my family name, in the sincere desire to give my children their fair share of the American way of life without a blemish on their name and background. I have appeared before this committee and given it all the cooperation [come on now—you’ve been pretty difficult along the way. Someone (Judge Ramos), and we’re not saying who (Judge Ramos) even told you “you are acting like a petulant child. Do petulant children get to keep $190 million compensation packages? I don’t think so, Mister”] in my power.

I consider my being called before this committee an act of prejudice to all Americans of Italian extraction. [That’s a bit of a stretch] I consider it a great dishonor to me personally to have to deny that I am a criminal. I wish to have the following noted for the record. That I served my country faithfully and honorably in World War II and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in defense of my country. That I have never been arrested or indicted for any crime whatsoever… [what about those DUIs back in the summer of ’71? Do those not count?] that no proof linking me to any criminal conspiracy, whether it is called Mafia or Cosa Nostra or whatever other name you wish to give [“Mafia” is fine], has ever been made public. Only one man has made charges against me, and that man is known to be a murderer, arsonist and rapist. [Really, we think Spitzer might have a problem with this part]

And yet this committee had used this person to besmirch my name. My personal protest can only be made to the people of this country [It’s kind of a stretch to say people in Michigan or Nevada care about this. New York we’ll give you, maybe New Jersey but that’s really all we can offer]. I can only thank God that in this country we have a legal system and courts of law to protect innocent people from wild accusation [Obviously you didn’t follow the OJ trial]. I thank God for our democratic due process of Law that shields me from the false charges made by this committee’s witness. I have not taken refuge behind the Fifth Amendment, though counsel advised me to do so.

I challenge this committee to produce any witness or evidence against me, and if they do not, I hope they will have the decency to clear my name with the same publicity with which they have now besmirched it [That could be a tough one, you know Spitzer’s always had a hard time saying “I’m sorry”]. I ask this without malice, in the interests of fair play.

Grasso Says Costs of NYSE Suit May Have Exceeded $100 Million [Bloomberg]

Dick Grasso has once again asked to be allowed to keep his sizeable compensation package, awarded to him by the NYSE in 2003. Gerson Zweifach, Grasso’s attorney, claimed that “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,” referring to a decision made by judge Charles E. Ramos, back in October. According to the Wall Street Journal,

Mr. Zweifach said Mr. Grasso’s compensation was spelled out in his employment contract, particularly the formula used to determine payments owed to him under the exchange’s Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, or SERP.

He also argued that the NYSE’s board was made up of corporate executives who wouldn’t have stood by silently if they felt Mr. Grasso wasn’t giving them the full story on his compensation.

Here in the DB HQs, we’ve yet to reach a consensus on the matter, save for this: you mess with Charlie Ramos, you mess with us.

Grasso Wants Trial by Jury [WSJ]

Dick Grasso discovered the upside of getting canned by the NYSE in 2003: he spent a lot less time in New York City, where he has a residence in Tribeca, and a lot more time out in in Long Island mansion. And this has given him the confidence to deny officially being a resident of the city in 2003, and therefore allowing him to avoid millions in taxes. New York City tax authorities are calling bullshit, of course, but Grasso sounds pretty damned unconcerned.

The boys at the Post have the story:

The former NYSE chief told The Post he moved out of the city “in 1974” and he’s confident he did nothing wrong.

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.

“Fortunately,” Grasso said, “the year in question, 2003, is the one where the NYSE fired me. We went back and checked - I spent 170 days in the city. If they had dragged out my dismissal, I would have had to plead no contest.”

He’s already got a team of lawyers working ‘round the clock anyhow. What’s one more legal battle, anyway?

Taxing Grasso [New York Post]

The Possibly $87 Million Man will finally get his moment in the sun this afternoon. “Big Lloyd I (.6 Billion),” the companion portrait to “Big Dick I (Hundred Million),” will be on display today in the Financial district, and available for purchase on e-Bay. “Unlike the Grasso painting, I painted Mr. Blankfein’s portrait in a straight-forward, almost corporate manner, as befits the subject and his standing on Wall Street,” Geoffrey Raymond, the artist, noted. “It’s really meant to be a celebration of a big year on Wall Street rather than the ironic commentary offered by ‘Big Dick I.’.” Eliot Spitzer is rumored to be next up in the series.

Bigger Blankfein, after the jump.

Despite spending a few days outside the New York Stock Exchange and being mentioned everywhere from Gawker to the New York Times, the colorful Dick Grasso portrait by artist Geoffrey Raymond did not attract a rash of bonus-rich Wall Streeters to its Ebay auction. In all, only three people placed bids on it. The winning bid of $3,050.00 came from a bidder in Corona, California, which may mean that this portrait of a historically important Wall Street figure may end up residing on the West Coast.

Raymond isn’t giving up on Wall Street related art, however. He’s painting media figures Jim Cramer and Maria Bartiromo next. After that he plans to paint Hank Paulson. “Hank Greenberg is still in the mix, but has fallen to the back of the pack,” Raymond says.

Portrait of Richard Grasso Auction [EBay]

It’s all about Dick Grasso’s head today. If you’re anywhere near the New York Stock Exchange today, you might have noticed a giant, crazy, multicolored portrait of Dick Grasso. The painting is the work of Geoffrey Raymond, the man Eater.com calls “The Mad Portraitist of 7th Avenue” for his paintings of restaurant workers in Chelsea.

“Richard Grasso is either a hero or a villain, plus he has an interesting looking head,” explains Mr. Raymond. “He’s either played he game better than almost anyone in recent history or he’s guilty of massive corporate malfeasance. In either case, he makes a great subject for a painting.”

You see, painting is beyond good and evil. And it’s for sale! You can bid for it on Ebay. The opening bid is $2,500.

After the jump, and even bigger image of the portrait.

There’s a kind of unreality to all this, since former NYSE boss Dick Grasso is appealing the ruling ordering him to pay back millions to the NYSE. But we cannot help but imagine that the lawyers from the attorney general’s office were smiling as they told Grasso that he could take his sweet time selling everything he owns to pay the bill.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is willing to give Dick Grasso plenty of time to sell assets to come up with the cash to pay back the disputed multimillion-dollar paycheck that got him ousted from the helm of the New York Stock Exchange.

But Spitzer doesn’t want to wait to firm up what the total payout will be, Avi Schick, a deputy for the attorney general, said at a hearing in state court in Manhattan yesterday.

Schick said he understands it may take a while for Grasso to sell assets, which include several homes and more than a dozen cars, to help round up the $112 million the attorney general tallied the former Big Board head must return to the exchange.

No Rush {New York Post]

You’ve just been elected the new Attorney General of New York— what’s the first thing you’re going to do? Prove that you can throw down fisticuffs just as well, if not better than your predecessor, that’s what.

Andrew Cuomo’s election to the New York Attorney General’s job doesn’t mean the battle over Dick Grasso’s disputed $187.5 [million] paycheck will be any less of a battle.

Cuomo is said to favor taking Grasso’s case to its bitter end, just as Spitzer would have done. “No one’s backing down on this one,” said one party familiar with the case.

Catfight indeed.

GRASSO PAY SUIT CUOMO’S PRIORITY [NY Post]

Both Eliot Spitzer and Dick Grasso are saying they won’t settle the case after yesterdays summary judgment opinion came down from State Supreme Court judge Charles Ramos. Charlie Gasparino reported this morning on CNBC that he’d spoken with Grasso, who told him that this was looking like a heavyweight title fight—a champion will be declared. We prefer the Terrordome analogy: two men enter, one man leaves. Meanwhile, Jim Cramer told CNBC that Spitzer has also ruled out a settlement. This thing isn’t going away, and its only going to get messier from here. We can’t wait.

Eliot Spitzer won the first substantive round in the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against former NYSE head Richard Grasso today. State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos ruled that Grasso must return part of $58 million in “deferred compensation” he received as part of his controversial $198 million compensation package from the then exchange.

Ramos also shot down Grasso’s claims for damages against the exchange and a defamation claim against the current NYSE chairman.

Of course, all of this is at the summary judgment stage, and open to appeal at some point. And you know Grasso’s not exactly opposed to appealing Ramos’ judgments. He’s already got three in front of the state appeals court.
(And, by the way, in New York the “State Supreme Court” is actually the lower court. It makes them lower court judges feel better if they get to call themselves Supreme.)

The opinion hasn’t yet been published but we probably won’t read it even when it is. Unless, you know, there are some juicy, mean or funny bits.

Grasso Must Return Part of $190 Million Pay Package, Judge Says [Bloomberg]

A key part of Dick Grasso’s defense against Eliot Spitzer’s lawsuit is the claim that the directors of the NYSE understood what they were doing when they approved Grasso’s compensation. We always figured this was a pretty strong line of defense—the folks on the NYSE board were hardly financial innocents and it seems pretty likely they didn’t just accidentally hand Grasso $190 million.

Reading about this exchange at a recent hearing, however, has got us rethinking this.

New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos in a hearing yesterday asked Grasso’s lawyer to name members of the NYSE’s compensation committee who said they were aware of how the exchange determined Grasso’s pay and benefits. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is seeking more than half of Grasso’s $190 million in compensation, claiming it wasn’t properly disclosed to directors.

“We impose a duty upon CEO’s to be transparent,” Ramos said during the two-and-half-hour hearing in Manhattan. “Shouldn’t Mr. Grasso have said, ‘Let’s show them the range of consequences that flowed from this compensation’? Richard Grasso has to have had an idea of what was going on. Wasn’t any effort made to inform the board?”

Grasso’s lawyer Gerson Zweifach said NYSE directors have testified under oath that they knew how the total pay package was calculated when it was approved.

“Lots of directors testified they understood the formula and they knew what they were doing,” said Zweifach.

See what we mean? Understanding the formula is different from actually doing the math and understanding exactly how big Grasso’s pay day was going to be. If directors understood the formula but didn’t quite get around to figuring out how much of the then non-profit company’s money they were dishing out to the chief exectutive, that could be a problem. The question is: whose problem? Did Grasso have a duty to tell them? Did they owe a fidicuciary duty to actually be more thorough in figuring these things out?

And, on an almost completely unrelated note: do you think Grasso is hoping Spitzer gets elected Governor? After all, if Spitzer is gone from the Attorney General’s office, it might become easier for Grasso to convince the new AG to drop the case or settle on the cheap. Then again, Grasso could be so bitter at Spitzer that he doesn’t want to see the guy rise to higher office.

Grasso Judge Focuses on NYSE Board [New York Post]

In a move that we find to be offensively below the belt, as it were, Dick Grasso tried unsuccessfully yesterday to remove Judge Charles E. Ramos— Chuckles, to us— from his trial versus New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer. Pint-size Dick (seriously, the guy’s like 5’2”) claimed that Ramos was too involved in the case, citing the fact that his résumé had been circulated not once but twice to the NYSE by a placement service. Ramos, because he’s freaking awesome, gave Dick the proverbial finger and denied the motion. Spitzer, who’s got his panties in a bunch over the former NYSE chair’s compensation package, called Mr. Grasso’s attempt “deceitful, disingenuous and dishonest.”

[Full disclosure: We’ve got a well-documented thing for Charles Ramos]

Judge in Grasso Pay Lawsuit Refuses to Remove Himself [New York Times]

Women live longer than men and it’s not fair. It may even be unholy. Why would God make men in his own image only to kill us off sooner than something he later made from our friggin’ ribcage? Fortunately, former NYSE honcho Dick Grasso found a way of compensating himself for the inequities of lifespans—when calculating Grasso’s pension payout, the NYSE used a ratio of 50 percent male and 50 percent female life expectancies. This gender bending effectively increased Grasso’s actuarial life expectancy a few years, upping the amount of his compensation by perhaps as much a a few million dollars.

The Sex “Change” at Stock Exchange [New York Post via Under The Counter]

Dick Grasso will likely lose one of the most powerful forces he has on his side —Williams & Connolly attorney Brendan Sullivan. A recent ruling moving the trial date up to September from late October, probably means that Sullivan, who famously represented Oliver North in the Iran-Contra hearings, will not be able to serve as lead attorney at trial, according to CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino. Sullivan is already set to represent another client in a trial scheduled for the same time.

Surprisingly, Grasso may ultimately benefit from the new date. Lawyers working for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer have complained that the new date doesn’t give them enough time to prepare for the case.

Oh, and the headline comes from Sullivan’s famous reply to lawmakers who complained he was objecting too much to their questions to Colonel North. “I’m not a potted plant. I’m here as a lawyer. That’s my job,” Sullivan said. Reportedly, the guy now running Grasso’s defense, Gerson Zweifach, is not potted plant either.

Grasso loses Brendan Sullivan [SquawkBlog]