NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Ex-New York Stock Exchange Chairman and CEO Richard Grasso is refusing to give back any of the $139.5 million paid to him last year by the exchange and may seek $50 million more, a published report said Friday.
In a letter obtained by the Washington Post, which was sent to NYSE interim chairman John Reed Thursday, Grasso's attorney, Brendan Sullivan, Jr., accused the Big Board of "conducting a campaign through the press and intermediaries" to pressure the former NYSE chief to give up his pay.
Grasso's lawyer said in the letter that the former NYSE chief had done nothing wrong in accepting the $139.5 million payment, which covered his eight years as chairman at the exchange, the paper said.
The report followed comments Monday by the exchange's new CEO, John Thain, that the NYSE is urging Grasso to return a portion of the compensation package that led to his ouster last year.
In a wide-ranging interview with reporters, Thain said the exchange wants "a very substantial return" of Grasso's "excessive compensation."
But Sullivan was quoted as saying Grasso has no intention of returning any portion of his compensation to the exchange.
"Not your and Thain's statements to the press, not your efforts to encourage federal or state agencies to investigate the matter, and certainly not the filing of a completely baseless lawsuit will cause Mr. Grasso to capitulate," Grasso's attorney said in th letter, according to the Post.
Thain assumed the role of CEO at the NYSE in January, four months after Grasso resigned under pressure in the wake of accepting the big pay package.
Sullivan's letter was in response to a letter written by Reed to Grasso on Feb. 12, 2004.
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