Herald Staff

Samuel J. Iacino, a Hermitage broker, was fined $25,000 and suspended for 60 days by NASD Regulation Inc., the Washington regulatory arm of the National Association of Securities Dealers, over alleged misrepresentations to customers of certificates of deposit.

Iacino formerly was a broker with NatCity Investments Inc. NASD said the fine must be paid before Iacino reassociates with any NASD member following the suspension or before appealing the suspension, which Iacino said he has decided not to do. As part of the agreement Iacino admits no wrongdoing.

NASD alleges he recommended and sold callable certificates of deposit to public customers, made material misrepresentations to the customers that the CDs would be called in a year, that the customers could redeem their CDs a year after purchase without penalty, and that the interest rate the CD paid for the first year would be the sole interest rate applicable to the CD.

The findings also stated that Iacino made material misrepresentations and omitted to disclose that there was a risk if the CDs were redeemed prior to the maturity date.

"I testified that this wasn't true and there were too many people confusing regular CDs with marketable CDs,'' said Iacino to the Wall Street Journal. "The reason I signed in March is because I had no intentions of staying in the business. And you're not going to win anyway. And it was going to cost me too much to fight it. The thing I regret is that I tried to do the best job possible for my customers and it still turned out wrong. There's a whole lot to say about it. But it's over. Because I signed that paper, I'm not allowed to say I'm innocent, to you or anyone. I was innocent from the beginning but was marked as guilty from the start. I went there expecting to be fully exonerated for everything. I never went there feeling guilty. I went there hoping to get things resolved.''

He declined further comment to The Herald.