Cramer: Spitzer Won't Settle

Dick Grasso and Eliot Spitzer will fight to the bitter end, say people who know them.

Grasso, the former New York Stock Exchange chief who was ordered Thursday to repay millions of dollars in compensation, plans to appeal, Charles Gasparino reported Friday on CNBC. "Grasso," Gasparino said, "will never settle."

But there he's not alone. Jim Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com, said later Friday morning that in the past Spitzer has told Cramer that he wouldn't consider settling the Grasso case -- and certainly won't after receiving a favorable court ruling on Thursday.

"There have been reports ... Dick Grasso will not settle with Spitzer's office," Cramer writes in a column on RealMoney.com Friday. "This is a laughable presumption. He won't settle because Eliot Spitzer doesn't want to settle.

"Dick Grasso could say he wants to settle and that wouldn't matter," Cramer adds. "I think that if Dick Grasso were to agree with everything Eliot wants, [Spitzer] still won't settle."

In a 72-page ruling Thursday, New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos said Grasso must pay back a portion of the money given to him by the New York Stock Exchange. The ruling is unclear on just how much money Grasso must repay.

Spitzer's office issued a statement after the decision was announced, saying Grasso "must return approximately $100 million already paid to him."

Cramer said he has been a defender of Grasso's, even to Spitzer, in the past. Spitzer was an investor at Cramer Berkowitz, the hedge fund Cramer founded.

"Oh, and for the record, I repeatedly argued Dick Grasso's case to Eliot and was told that it was ridiculous to do so," Cramer writes Friday on RealMoney.com. "Looks like Eliot was right."

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