Ex-Merrill Rep Who Threw Smoothie Hit With FINRA Complaint on Cash Transactions

An advisor who was fired by Merrill Lynch early last year over an incident in which he was captured on video throwing a drink and swearing at smoothie shop employees is now facing a disciplinary proceeding over his structuring of cash transactions over several years.

In a complaint filed Friday at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Office of Hearing Officers, the FINRA Department of Enforcement alleged that, over the course of more than six years, while associated with FINRA member Merrill Lynch, James Iannazzo “repeatedly structured cash deposits and withdrawals in three separate bank and brokerage accounts for the purpose of causing the financial institutions to fail to file a Currency Transaction Report.”

Merrill declined to comment Wednesday, while Iannazzo’s attorneys and spokesman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iannazzo has been registered with Aegis Capital since March 2022.

Specifically, the complaint alleged that, between December 2014 and March 2021, Iannazzo “divided cash transactions over $10,000 into smaller deposits or withdrawals conducted over several days at the same bank, and often conducted the transactions at different branches of the same bank.”

He also “frequently withdrew more than $10,000 in cash on a single day through transactions conducted at two different financial institutions,” according to the complaint.

In total, he structured 71 cash deposits and withdrawals totaling $568,440 in two personal bank accounts and 297 ATM deposits and withdrawals totaling $277,450 in a Merrill account, according to the complaint.

Iannazzo structured the cash transactions to “avoid conducting a single deposit or withdrawal over $10,000 at a financial institution, which would require the financial institution to file a CTR,” FINRA alleged.