Guilty Plea Is Expected From Trader

The office of the United States attorney for Maryland said yesterday that it would announce a guilty plea today ''in a significant financial fraud case involving Allfirst Bank.'' The statement did not name Mr. Rusnak but no one else has been indicted in the case.

Mr. Rusnak was indicted in June on seven counts involving bank fraud and making false financial entries. The indictment charged that Mr. Rusnak used fictitious trades and false trade confirmations to hide losses at Allfirst Financial and to make it appear that he was actually making a profit as a currency trader.

Allfirst's parent bank, Allied Irish Banks of Dublin, announced at the end of September that it would sell Allfirst to the M&T Bank Corporation of Buffalo for $3.1 billion in cash and stock. Allied Irish officials said at the time that the sale was a result of the fallout from the revelations of Mr. Rusnak's hidden losses. The scandal rocked the Irish markets when it was revealed in February and cut Allied Irish Bank's 2001 profits in half.