NYSE Fines, Suspends 2 Merrill Lynch Workers

The New York Stock Exchange fined and suspended a Merrill Lynch & Co. saleswoman and a former Merrill Lynch retail analyst for disclosing the analyst’s downgrade on Home Depot Inc. to select customers before news of the action was released to the public.

According to documents made public Wednesday, saleswoman Janina Casey was fined $150,000 and suspended from work for a month for her role in the July 2002 incident. Peter Caruso, who was fired from his analyst job at Merrill in August 2002, was suspended from working in the securities industry for four months and fined $25,000.

Caruso discussed Home Depot stock with an investment bank the day before his downgrade was to become public, the NYSE said, and Casey arranged the meeting and warned her own clients.