CFTC pushes for lifetime ban on ex-trader who threatened to kill more than 40 US fin regulator officials

Maria Nikolova

The CFTC wants to put potential rogue traders on notice by seeking further penalties for McCrudden, who was sent to jail in 2012 over threats to kill government and regulator officials.

The name of Vincent McCrudden became notorious in late 2010 and 2011 after the former trader started a menacing campaign against more than 40 officials working at US financial regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the National Futures Association (NFA), and the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

His blood-freezing campaign started soon after the CFTC charged him and his businesses – Alnbri Management, LLC (Alnbri) and Managed Accounts Asset Management, LLC (MAAM) with failure to register with the CFTC as an Associated Person (AP) of a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO), acting as a CPO without being registered and failing to give notice of an inaccurate claimed exemption from registration filed with the CFTC.

Before being sentenced to prison in April 2012, the defendant admitted that he had sent an e-mail threatening to kill the vice president and chief operating officer of the NFA. The e-mail had a subject line of “You’re a Dead Man,” in which McCrudder told the vice president and chief operating officer of the NFA that he had hired trained assassins to kill him and that his “body [would] never be found” because it would be in “little bits and pieces.”

The defendant also admitted that he posted threats to kill government and regulatory officials on a website that he operated. The website included an “Execution List” with the names of more than 40 current and former officials of the SEC, FINRA, NFA, and CFTC. He even promised a $100,000 reward for personal information of those individuals and proof that they were punished.

While in prison, McCrudden continued with the menacing campaign. There have been numerous actions against him following complaints by US regulators.

In an example of one such action, Law360 reported on May 10, 2017, that the CFTC is seeking that the New York Eastern Court imposes a $390,000 fine and a lifetime trading ban on McCrudden.

According to the Law360 report, the CFTC wants to use the penalties sought against McCrudden to dissuade would-be traders from following in the footsteps of McCrudden.

McCrudden’s biography on the website of his firm, Alnbri Management LLC, alleged that he was employed on Wall Street for about 20 years and was operating trading desks in commodities, derivatives and Forex.

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