Compliance

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Melanie Rodier
Melanie Rodier
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Toughest Job In The Financial Industry?

While many a financial executive might have quietly muttered their dislike of regulators, it has now emerged that these much maligned officials have had to deal with much more than a few grumbles.

Its a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Financial regulators are constantly caught up in the minefield of having to regulate markets enough to protect investors, but not so much as to suppress innovation.

On the shoulders of the financial crisis, they (quite rightly) faced the wrath of investors and the public. People complained that regulators didn't know enough about the financial industry's inner workings. Or about financial instruments. They don't catch enough criminals. (i.e. Madoff). And the pay isn't that great either.

But while many a financial executive might have quietly muttered their dislike of regulators, it has now emerged that these much maligned officials have had to deal with much more than a few grumbles.

Former commodities trader and hedge fund manager Vincent P. McCrudden pleaded guilty to threatening to kill dozens of financial regulators, including the heads of the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission.

McCrudden, 50, was accused of threatening to kill 47 current and former officials, including SEC chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro. He had previously denied sending a menacing e-mail outlining his plans to murder a high-ranking official of the National Futures Association.

With a deep grudge against dozens of financial regulators who had accused him of a list of violations since 2000, McCrudden allegedly wrote on his Facebook page that he would offer $344,850 "to any group or organization with proof of killing" a group of regulators.

From the Washington Post:

He was charged with threatening the regulators in profanity-filled e-mails and, after the CFTC sued him in December, of threatening in web postings. McCrudden had said he was being persecuted for fighting back against unfair regulatory actions that destroyed his career.

“On Dec. 10, 2010, I was notified that I was being civilly sued by the CFTC for $58 million,” McCrudden told U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley. “It upset me. I had started to post some things on the site that hadn’t been there before.”

McCrudden wrote in a Sept. 30 e-mail to Daniel A. Driscoll, chief operating officer of the National Futures Association, that he had hired people to kill him. “It wasn’t ever a question of ‘if’ I was going to kill you, it was just a question of when,” McCrudden wrote, according to prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch in Brooklyn, New York.

The e-mail was sent in CFTC Chairman Gensler’s name. Its language and origin in Singapore pointed to McCrudden, the government said. McCrudden moved from Long Beach, New York, to the Southeast Asian country in September because his fiancee had gotten a position there. He previously denied sending the e- mail.

Prosecutors charged that, after the CFTC accused him in the lawsuit of illegally starting his Hybrid Fund II LP in 2008 without registering it, he posted an “execution” list on his company website.

“Go buy a gun, and let’s get to work in taking back our country from these criminals,” he wrote on the site, according to prosecutors. “I will be the first one to lead by example.”

In court, McCrudden said the execution list was simply meant to be "provocative."

He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio
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