A New York Supreme Court judge has called for the state attorney general Eliot Spitzer to settle the $187.5m (€157.8m) pay row with former New York Stock Exchange chairman and chief executive Richard Grasso.

The call comes as a senior human resources executive at the NYSE reportedly claimed in her legal deposition that she altered documents at the request of her boss to hide the full details of Grasso's compensation, according to The New York Times.