Eliot Spitzer, New York state attorney general, is to sue Dick Grasso, former chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, along with a former director at the exchange and the NYSE itself, alleging Grasso's $187.5m (€156.2m) compensation package was "excessive" and "illegal".

Spitzer will seek to recover over $100m of Grasso's compensation, citing violations of New York's not-for-profit corporation law in bringing the action.