1. What are the ethical issues in this case?
2. Who are the stakeholders impacted by this situation? How would you rank their claims?
3. What is your reaction to Richard Grasso’s compensation package? What criteria are bringing you to your conclusion?
4. Do you agree with the firing of Richard Grasso? Do you agree with Attorney General Spitzer’s lawsuit? Who is to blame for this situation? Who are the victims? Irrespective of what the courts decide, who do you think is in the wrong?
5. What changes would you make so that this problem would not happen again?

The former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Chairman Richard A. (Dick) Grasso has a personal story that is well known in Wall Street circles. His father left his family when Grasso was an infant, and so he was raised in a blue-collar neighborhood by a single mother and two unmarried aunts. After dropping out of Pace University and then serving two years in the Army, Grasso joined the NYSE as a clerk in the stock lists department. Rising through the ranks, Grasso eventually became the NYSE chairman and CEO in 1995.