Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, might be keeping his fingers crossed. This is the guy who went from pin-up boy to public villian almost overnight following the revelations that he was due to get nearly $200 million in accumulated benefits.

New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos has urged lawyers for Grasso and New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer to settle the case. The judge's comments came at the time of revelations from a senior human resources executive at the New York Stock Exchange that she altered documents, at the request of her superiors, to hide the full amount of Grasso's pay-out.

As a symbol of capitalism and markets, Grasso's story provides ammunition for CEO and business haters. Now, you can accuse him of delinquent behavior. But if the claims of document tampering are right, Grasso might have just been part of a delinquent community at the NYSE. And that's a worry.

The judge reckons "it's not going do anyone any good to try this case."

Funny, I always thought the point about court cases was to establish the truth on its merits.

As the New York Sun says, Ramos is abdicating his responsibility.