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| Vincent McCrudden |
Vincent McCrudden says he’s being framed – it wasn’t he who sent threatening emails to almost 50 government officials, including the chairmen of the SEC and the CFTC. In a jailhouse interview with Bloomberg News, McCrudden claimed he was on the short end of a vast vendetta against him.
A questionable email dates from Sept 30, 2010 to the director of the National Futures Association, Daniel Driscoll, and it carried a death threat. Authorities say that although the email was doctored by McCrudden to look like it came from the CFTC, it actually originated from Singapore, where McCrudden lives. The language used also bore a strong resemblance to other missives sent by McCrudden.
So what’s ticked off McCrudden? He was acquitted of charges of mail fraud for allegedly lying to investors in his Hybrid hedge fund. Nonetheless, he was denied NFA registration, a move that was upheld in court. McCrudden told Bloomberg:
"I've executed hundreds of billions of dollars of financial instruments during my whole career. What I'm most proud of is I've never had a customer complaint.”
But McCrudden is not up for a Mr. Nice Guy award. His lawyer, Bruce Barket, admits McCrudden had a pattern of writing abusive letters for years, but says McCrudden never actually harmed anyone. When he was fired in 2008 from Hedge Fund Capital Partners, McCrudden was profane and threatening to his former employer in a series of communications.
Friends and family stand by McCrudden. One friend called McCrudden “"warm and caring," but that his "extremely unwise approach in how he deals with his legal and regulatory issues" was lamentable. His ex-wife informed the court: "although he is hot-tempered and lashes out at times with words, he has never done anything to harm another person."
Maybe, but if you were one of the 47 people who received death threats, you might be less understanding. McCrudden asked his website visitors to "go buy a gun and let's get to work in taking back our country from these criminals."
"The most important thing to me, obviously, is the perception of due process and fairness," McCrudden said. "I will defend 100% of what I've written."
© 2011 Hedge Fund Writer LLC
