Asserting that one government official is “going to die a painful death,” a former Long Beach man was charged on Friday with threatening to kill 47 former and current Securities and Exchange Commission regulators, authorities said.
Vincent McCrudden, 49, a former commodities trader who ran his business out of Long Beach, is accused of sending death threats via emails to SEC officials and posting threats against other officials on his website. He also encouraged others to take violent action against them, saying “these people have got to go. And I need your help, there are just too many for me alone.”
McCrudden’s anger against the government officials stemmed from a Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) civil enforcement lawsuit filed against him in December, citing registration violations. McCrudden has been the target of various government enforcement or disciplinary proceedings for several years.
Find out what's happening in Long Beachfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
McCrudden appeared Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, where the charges against him were unsealed.
McCrudden was the owner and sole officer of the now defunct Long Beach-based Alnbri Management LLC and Managed Accounts Asset Management of Dix Hills, which was dissolved in April 2009. Until recently, he lived in an apartment on West Broadway and had been residing in Singapore for the last few months.
Find out what's happening in Long Beachfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
McCrudden was picked up at Newark Liberty Airport Thursday night upon his return to the U.S. from Singapore.
According to the criminal complaint, McCrudden sent several emails threatening violence against employees of the CFTC and National Futures Association (NFA). On Sept. 30 he allegedly sent an email to an employee of the NFA, stating that “it wasn’t ever a question of ‘if’ I was going to kill you, it was just a question of when. And now, that question has been answered. You are going to die a painful death.”
In addition, he posted threats on a website that he operated, including one that invited others to “go buy a gun” and take back the country, stating that he would be the first one to lead by example, the criminal complaint alleged. On another page on his website, McCrudden included an “Execution List” with the names of 47 current and former officials of the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), NFA, and CFTC. That list included the chairman of the SEC, chairman of the CFTC, a former acting chairman and commissioner of the CFTC, chairman and CEO of FINRA, the former chief of enforcement at FINRA and other employees of the NFA and CFTC.
The defendant also posted a $100,000 reward on his website for personal information of several government officials and proof that those officials were punished, according to the federal complaint.
McCrudden was charged in federal court Friday with two counts of transmitting threats, and if found guilty of the charges, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment on each of the two counts.
“In this day and age, there is no such thing as an idle threat,” said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, adding that the government’s investigation is continuing. “Those who threaten injury or worse to the lives of others will be promptly investigated and vigorously prosecuted.”
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer added that death threats and violence against federal officials and employees “for executing their duties are simply unacceptable.”
With the backdrop of the murder spree in Tucson, Ariz. last week in which a Congresswoman was gravely injured and a federal judge shot to death, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk said “overt threats of the sort made by this defendant [McCrudden] must be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. The threats were direct, extreme, and specific, vowing to kill securities regulators and encouraging others to do the same. The allegations, coming as they do during a period of national mourning in the wake of horrific violence done to public officials and others, are especially troubling.”
McCrudden’s website states that he worked on Wall Street for more than 20 years, spending the past 13 years fighting “a colluded government attempt to discredit and harass [him] through repeated bogus procedures.” The site stated that he has sought relief by suing multiple agencies and officials for $1 billion.
“In order to stop the libel, slander and harassment … Mr. McCrudden has started a process to enact payback for years of government abuse,” the website said.
“Wake up my fellow citizens and middle class and go look into the mirror, because you my friends are the face of the new Al Qaeda,” the website stated, adding that McCrudden twice survived the World Trade Center attacks and lost 23 friends on Sept. 11. “Civil disobedience can be a start for justice. It’s us [middle class] against them [government officials]. Start acting now before it’s too late!”
His attorney, Bruce Barket, could not be reached for comment.
