Two claims remain against Grasso's $187.5 million compensation package from the exchange, which was challenged by Spitzer as exorbitant for a not-for-profit organization.

In the decision affirming a lower court's ruling, Chief Judge Judith Kaye says the challenges were based on the size of the compensation package. But she says state law required more evidence to void such a payment.

Grasso argued that a private interest like NYSE should be free to set its own compensation.

The 5-4 decision addresses a basic legal point, that courts can only hear cases when plaintiffs suffer actual injuries that are traceable to a defendant's conduct.

In the case before the court, APCC Services Inc. is trying to collect from Sprint Communications Co. and AT&T Inc. for coinless long-distance calls over the networks of Sprint and AT&T.

APCC provides billing and collection services on behalf of pay-phone service providers.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said APCC may pursue the claim, even though it has promised to turn over any money from the lawsuit to pay-phone service providers.

A federal appeals court said the case could go forward because the pay-phone providers transferred the compensation claims to the collection agency and agreed to finance APCC's lawsuit. Breyer agreed, saying that for centuries, courts have found ways to allow those to whom compensation claims are assigned to bring suit.

In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts said APCC has "nothing to gain from their lawsuit" and that under settled legal principles, that fact required dismissal of their complaint. Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joined the dissent.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that pay-phone companies that complained they hadn't been adequately compensated could sue long-distance carriers.

While agreeing to the settlement, the firm of Hogan, Sarzynski, Lynch, Surowka & DeWind LLP denied any impropriety.

Cuomo announced settlements Wednesday with the local firm and an Albany firm over private attorneys who were listed as school employees in order to receive public pensions and other benefits.

Overall, the deal includes a $600,000 settlement with Hogan, Sarzynski, as well as the Albany firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo. Cuomo said the settlement is the largest he has reached with private attorneys in his ongoing probe.

The admission came as part of a $75 million settlement in a case involving more than 165 lawsuits filed against some of the nation's largest corporations from the 1970s through 2005, prosecutors said in a statement released late Monday.

Then known as Milberg Weiss, the firm dominated the field of securities class-action lawsuits involving shareholders who claim they suffered losses because executives misled them about a company's financial condition. Milberg's lawsuits targeted AT&T Inc., Lucent, WorldCom, Microsoft Corp., Prudential Insurance and other companies.

As part of the settlement, prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against Milberg, which has retained a compliance monitor.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said the settlement reflects the seriousness of what was probably the longest-running scheme ever conducted by a law firm.

"The monetary payment will punish the firm for allowing this conduct to occur, and the compliance monitor should ensure that Milberg will not again lie to judges presiding over cases it is litigating." O'Brien said.

The deal was initially disclosed Monday by Sanford Dumain, a member of Milberg's executive committee. If the criminal case had gone forward, the firm risked having to pay forfeitures and penalties of hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

The firm was charged with aiding and abetting mail fraud and with money-laundering conspiracy. A trial had been expected to start in August.

A seven-year investigation has resulted in guilty pleas by three former partners.

David Safavian, the former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, was convicted of lying to investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist who has admitted bribing government officials. Safavian was sentenced to 18 months in prison but the sentence was put on hold while the appeal played out.

"David Safavian has been destroyed by this," attorney Barbara Van Gelder, who defended Safavian at trial, said Tuesday. "He has been debarred. He's been unemployable and he's been seen as a villain. This is vindication."

His conviction was based on statements he made to Senate investigators, GSA ethics officials and the agency's inspector general. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out the charges related to ethics officials and the inspector general and ordered a new trial on the other charges.

The court unanimously agreed that when Safavian asked whether he could ethically travel to Scotland for a golf trip with Abramoff, he was not required to tell ethics officials that he'd been providing Abramoff information about government-owned properties.

Lori Drew, 49, a neighbor of the dead teen, was to make an appearance in federal court here Monday, accused of one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress.

The charges were filed in California where MySpace is based. MySpace is a subsidiary of Beverly Hills-based Fox Interactive Media Inc., which is owned by News Corp.

Drew, of suburban St. Louis, allegedly helped create a fake MySpace account to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans.

Megan Meier hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her. Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Meier.