New York ? The New York Stock Exchange asked state and federal regulators Thursday to help it recover about $140 million in “unreasonable compensation” paid to its former chief executive and chairman Dick Grasso.

The NYSE’s board of directors forwarded an internal report by former federal prosecutor Dan K. Webb to the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer, asking that they “pursue the matter both on our behalf and as part of your broader responsibilities.”

The report examines the decisions that led to Grasso’s ouster Sept. 17, when he stepped down amid a public furor after the NYSE’s revelation that he made $187.5 million in retirement benefits and deferred compensation.

In a letter accompanying the report, interim chairman and CEO John S. Reed said members of the NYSE board believe “serious damage has been inflicted on the exchange by unreasonable compensation of the previous chairman and CEO, and by failures of governance and fiduciary responsibility that led to the compensation excesses as well as other injuries.”

Grasso attorney Kenneth Edgar did not return calls for comment.

Spitzer said the Attorney General’s Office would review the Webb report.

The involvement of regulators piqued the interest of exchange members, some of whom had thought it increasingly unlikely that Grasso could be forced to pay back anything. Most were outraged when they learned of his compensation last fall.

“Not only was he overpaid, but he was overpaid in the dark of night and in secrecy. The membership certainly never knew what he was getting, because the exchange was run like a closed society,” said George Morris, a retired bank executive who leases out his seat on the NYSE trading floor. “I think with Mr. Spitzer in the act, it seems much more likely that we’ll see some of this money come back.”

Dick Grasso, the New York Stock Exchange's former chairman and CEO, attends a news conference in New York. During the Sept. 9 conference, he discussed a letter sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding his compensation package. Thursday, the NYSE board asked state and federal regulators to pursue an investigation into how Grasso managed to rack up nearly 90 million in retirement benefits and deferred compensation.