James Iannazzo was arrested for hurling a drink at a smoothie shop employee in an expletive-laced rant captured on a TikTok video (watch below).
On a TikTok video taken in a Robeks store in Fairfield on Saturday, James Iannazzo, 48, yelled, “F—-ing stupid, f—-ing ignorant high school kids.”
Iannazzo, a Merrill Lynch employee since 1995, was enraged that day after his nut-allergic son went into life-threatening anaphylactic shock after drinking a drink from the store, resulting in the 17-year-old hospitalization.
The video shows Iannazzo standing at the store’s counter, demanding to know who made his son’s drink. It also shows him refusing to leave when workers said they didn’t know, and after they repeatedly requested him to leave due to his behavior.
He exclaimed, “I want to speak to the f—-ing person who made this drink!”
Iannazzo was charged with “intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the second degree, second-degree breach of peace, and first-degree criminal trespass” after turning himself in on Saturday. On February 7, he is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court.
“He deeply regrets his actions and acted completely out of character,” Iannazzo’s lawyer Frank Riccio said in a statement.
Merrill Lynch fired Iannazzo on Sunday after learning of the TikTok video, which has over 2.6 million views since being shared on Twitter.
“This type of behavior is not tolerated by our company,” Merrill Lynch spokesman Bill Halldin said.
“We investigated right away and took action.” “This individual is no longer employed at our firm,” Haldin said, referring to Bank of America’s investment and wealth management division.
I’ve identified this man as James Iannazzo of @MerrillLynch being racist and assaulting a minor pic.twitter.com/O8Ic6jyh3p
— Danesh (@thatdaneshguy) January 23, 2022
