The Merrill Lynch broker who was arrested and fired in January 2022 after hurling a smoothie at a fast-food employee is facing an unrelated disciplinary action brought by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

In the complaint filed yesterday, Finra accused James Iannazzo, 49, of Southport, Conn., of repeatedly structuring cash deposits and withdrawals in his personal bank and brokerage accounts “for the purpose of causing the financial institutions to fail to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR).” A CTR is a bank form used in the U.S. to help prevent money laundering.

Finra had been looking into Iannazzo’s personal banking activity for some time. In May 2021, the regulator sent him a letter requesting information regarding his accounts’ activity. Last September, Finra disclosed its investigation of Iannazzo on his BrokerCheck report, noting that it had “made a preliminary determination to recommend that disciplinary action be brought against Iannazzo alleging violation of Finra Rule 2010,” which requires members and associated persons to “observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade” in the conduct of their business.

The complaint said between December 2014 and 2021, while at Merrill Lynch, Iannazzo structured 368 transactions, totaling $845,890 in cash deposits and withdrawals, in his three bank and brokerage accounts. He made 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 Lynch account.

Finra said Iannazzo would often conduct the transactions over several days at different branches of the same bank. He would divide cash transactions over $10,000 into smaller deposits or withdrawals, Finra said, noting that “he also frequently withdrew more than $10,000 in cash on a single day through transactions conducted at two different financial institutions.”

Iannazzo used the cash to pay for the construction of a new home in 2014 in Southport, Conn. and other expenses, Finra said. His family moved into the home in 2015 while it was still under construction, Finra said, noting that in  2017, Iannazzo added a pool, and in late 2019, he added a combined pool house and in-law suite. Iannazzo paid vendors in cash because they provided a cash discount and did not collect Connecticut’s 6.35% sales and use tax. “Iannazzo also understood that paying the contractors (or their laborers) in cash would allow them to not report the cash as income on their taxes,” Finra said.

Finra said Iannazzo engaged in the transactions despite knowing CRT rules for domestic financial institutions. The regulator noted that he completed annual mandatory training at the firm on financial crimes, which in some years included money laundering and structuring.

“For example, in 2016, the firm’s training explained that structuring occurs when a person conducts one or more currency transactions to avoid the $10,000 currency reporting threshold and includes both “[c]ash deposits or withdrawals slightly less than the $10,000 reporting limit” and “[s]plitting cash deposits or withdrawals into multiple transactions to evade reporting limits.” It added that the 2016 training, which Iannazzo completed, explained that “[l]egitimate funds can be structured” and advised employees that structuring transactions in a client or personal account is a felony and violation of company policy that would result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.”

Iannazzo, Finra said, also was questioned about his cash deposits and withdrawals by representatives of one of the banks he used and was given a FinCEN pamphlet on at least two occasions that explained both the CTR requirement and structuring and included examples of structured transactions that violate the law.

Finra said Iannazzo halted the large cash flows to his accounts shortly after receiving the May 10, 2021, request it sent seeking documents and information regarding his personal bank and brokerage account activity.

Iannazzo, who had worked at Merrill Lynch since 1996, was immediately fired last year after a video that went viral showed him yelling expletives at young smoothie shop employees and throwing a drink at one of them, ostensibly because a smoothie they served him caused his son to have an allergic reaction.

Iannazzo could not be reached for comment.