Dick Grasso yesterday said he never misused the New York Stock Exchange’s leased jet.
The embattled former Big Board chairman said a controversial NYSE document included in a court filing in his battle with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer does not show he had his son flown alone to Zurich.
Instead, Grasso, who is wrestling in court over his $140 million pay package, said through a spokesman that the document shows his son was the only guest on the plane on a Jan. 24, 2003, trip to Zurich.
Also on the flight to the Davos economic conference were Grasso and the NYSE deputy head of security, the spokesman said.
The cost of taking Grasso’s son on the trip, about $5,000 – approximately equivalent to a first class ticket on the same route – was included in Grasso’s W-2, the spokesman added.
The NYSE document, which covered the six-month period through June 2003, also showed Grasso taking family and friends on three Florida vacations.
The spokesman said the trips were necessary because after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the NYSE board barred Grasso from flying commercial for security reasons.
Grasso’s W-2 reflected the benefit of all personal travel and for having guests along on business trips, the spokesman noted.
Spitzer and Grasso are expected to lock horns next month on the AG’s attempt to get hold of Grasso’s tax returns.
Spitzer hopes to determine exactly how much the former executive earned during the years he headed the Big Board.