WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for Morgan Stanley on Tuesday argued that $1.45 billion in punitive and compensatory damages awarded to financier Ron Perelman in his fraud lawsuit against the firm could be cut to almost nothing.

The attorneys also said any verdict should be reduced by as much as $210 million because Perelman already received that amount in related settlements.

Perelman, the billionaire chairman of Revlon Inc., won his case alleging that the investment firm covered up the failing finances of Sunbeam Corp. so he would sell his Coleman camping-equipment maker to the company in 1998. A jury last month awarded him $850 million in punitive damages and $604.3 million in compensatory damages.

Morgan Stanley attorneys said Perelman already received as much as $140 million from Sunbeam and $70 million from accounting firm Arthur Andersen in settlements.

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In addition, attorney Rebecca Beynon told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Maass that the punitive damage award was excessive and should be cut to $12 million, at most.

"The harm inflicted was not solely that of Morgan Stanley but other wrongdoers with greater culpability," she said. Beynon said Perelman's out-of-pocket losses totaled "tens of millions," if any, and suggested that the compensatory damage award be cut to reflect the harm imposed.

But Perelman attorney Jack Scarola rebutted each of those claims, saying that evidence presented at trial proved the investor actually lost between $700 million and $1.6 billion on the deal, far more than the $604.3 million he was awarded by the jury. Scarola argued that punitive damages could be three times as much as the compensatory damages, or more than $1.8 billion, and said Morgan Stanley attorneys acknowledged that fact at trial.

And, Scarola said, Perelman should receive $215 million in interest. He said Morgan Stanley's deception was so reprehensible that it warranted "extraordinary and unprecedented" relief.

Maass said she could rule by Friday.

Morgan Stanley already pledged to appeal the verdict, largely because of a ruling Maass made before the trial that the firm failed to produce potential evidence in the case. She told jurors to assume that Morgan Stanley helped Sunbeam cover up its failing finances.

As a result, Perelman only had to prove at trial that he relied on fraudulent statements made by Morgan Stanley when he decided to sell his controlling stake in Coleman.

Sunbeam filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 after its financial troubles were discovered, and its chairman, "Chain Saw" Al Dunlap, was accused of leading an accounting fraud. He agreed in 2002 to never again hold a leadership role in a public company and paid $500,000 to settle an SEC lawsuit charging him with inflating income and other improper accounting practices.

Morgan Stanley also cast itself as a victim of the Sunbeam fraud, saying it lost $300 million when the company collapsed.