The former Merrill Lynch advisor caught on camera berating employees of a Connecticut smoothie shop has settled a civil suit with the teenager he hit with a drink during the racially charged tirade.
James Iannazzo, 48, has agreed to pay Gianna Marie Miranda $7,500, according to Iannazzo spokesman Brian Glicklich. Mranda had sought $300,000.
“The only civil litigation against Mr. Iannazzo was settled for a token payment of $7,500,” Glicklich said in an email.
In the video, which went viral, Iannazzo is seen yelling at the young employees and throwing a drink at Miranda, 18, reportedly because a smoothie they served him caused his son to have an allergic reaction.
According to police, Iannazzo ordered a drink without peanut butter for his teenage son, who has a peanut allergy, at Robeks on Black Rock Turnpike in his hometown of Fairfield, Conn., on January 23. He left the store but returned to confront employees after his son had an allergic reaction that sent him to the hospital, police said.
Iannazzo can be seen on a three-minute video, filmed by one of the employees and posted on TikTok, demanding to know who had made the smoothie and that he wanted the number for corporate. When the employees could not give him an answer about who made the smoothie, Iannazzo became increasingly irate, shouting multiple obscenities and calling the workers “stupid ignorant high school kids” and “f---ing immigrant losers.”
The workers repeatedly asked him to leave and threatened to call the police, but he became more charged and flung the smoothie at Miranda, hitting her in the shoulder/neck area and soiling her clothing, and the workers said he kept banging and pushing on the door for the employee entrance. One worker could be heard in the background calling the police.
Miranda’s complaint, filed in April, said Iannazzo’s actions have caused her “severe emotional distress and [she] is currently in counseling as a direct result of the incident.” It said Iannazzo acted “in an intentional and reckless manner” that was extreme and outrageous. “Mr. Iannazzo used general threats and threats of death, harm and was extremely verbal and physically abusive,” the complaint said.
Iannazzo was charged with second-degree breach of the peace; first degree criminal trespass; and intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony. He also had been s ordered to stay away from the shop and the employees.
In April, he was granted entry into an accelerated rehabilitation program. The program placed him under supervision for one year, after which the charges against him will be dismissed if he commits no other crimes during that time. Connecticut Superior Court Judge Peter McShane also required Iannazzo to donate $500 to the Office of Victim Services.