A New York money manager was arrested Friday for threatening to kill 47 current and former officials of financial regulators - including CFTC, SEC, FINRA, NFA.  He apparently was pushed over the edge by CFTC charges against himself and 2 of his companies for running unregistered commodity pools.  As reported by The NYTimes, Vincent McCrudden, 49, of Long Island, sent threatening, vulgarity-laced emails last month to CFTC Chairman Gary Genlser and other officials.

    Names On The 'Death' List.  McCrudden, on a company Web site, issued threats and listed the names of the 47 current and former officials.  Shortly after being posted on this Web site and others, the names were taken down.  in their complaint, prosecutors gave only the titles of named individuals.  However, it's known that the list includes:  Gary Gensler, CFTC Chairman and a predecessor;  Mary Shapiro, SEC Chairman;  Richard Ketchum, Chairman & CEO of FINRA, and other top officials;  officials of the NFA (National Futures Association).

• McCrudden accused the regulators of being corrupt and said their actions “can only end with violence against these life long lawyers that work at these agencies.”
• McCrudden added on his Web posting:  “Go buy a gun, and lets get to work in taking back our country from these criminals. I will be the first one to lead by example.”
• McCrudden also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for personal information about the regulators.

He was arrested at Newark Liberty Int'l Airport last Thursday by the FBI.  A federal judge later ordered that McCrudden be held without bail, pending a preliminary hearing on 11/27.  His attorney, however, said his client was not guilty - describing him at times as “ill-mannered and short-tempered, and not very articulate in terms of expressing himself.”  But, all-in-all, “the idea that he was actually threatening somebody is ludicrous.”

The complaint said McCrudden had been living in Singapore for the last few months, and he had just flown back from there at the time of his arrest.  His previous residence was on New York's Long Island.

If convicted, Mr. McCrudden faces up to 5 years in prison on each of the 2 charges against him.   [NYT DealBook, 1/14]