Merrill Sacks Uncooperative Execs

Two top Merrill Lynch & Co. executives have been fired for declining to testify about transactions conducted with Enron Corp., the brokerage said Wednesday.

Vice chairman Thomas Davis and Schuyler Tilney, an investment banking director who oversaw matters related to Enron, both declined to testify for investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Merrill Lynch said in a statement.

The nation's largest brokerage said it uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing by Davis and Tilney, but fired them in keeping with its policy requiring employees to cooperate with regulatory and law enforcement investigations. A Merrill Lynch spokesman declined further comment.

Davis had been scheduled to retire in November. Tilney had been on paid leave since July, when he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before Congress about the firm's relationship with Enron.

Tilney said his lawyer had advised them against commenting while the Justice Department probes the 1999 transactions. His lawyer, Robert Trout, said Wednesday that his client has done nothing wrong.

"Mr. Tilney did nothing improper, and Merrill Lynch has consistently stated that it is not aware of any evidence that its employees acted improperly with Enron," Trout said.

Davis' lawyer, Thomas Fitzpatrick, said he recommended that his client invoke his right not to testify.

"It's our position that Tom Davis is totally innocent, but in this post-Enron environment, it was my advice to do the cautious thing," Fitzpatrick said.