Paul Coughlin who worked for Merrill Lynch from 1993 to 2005 has been barred by the SEC from working in the securities industry. The ban results from Coughlin's March 2005 guilty plea in which he copped to participating, along with more than a dozen others, in a scheme in which day traders swiped inside information by listening in on confidential trading information carried by brokerage office "squawk box" communications system. Despite the "ban", under the terms of his plea agreement, Coughlin can, with a variety of restrictions, attempt to get back to work in the industry.

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- MDT