Purported trader arrested for government threats

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A man identified as a former commodities trader has been arrested on charges that he issued online threats to kill government officials, the FBI and federal prosecutors said Friday.

Vincent McCrudden, 49, was picked up at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey late Thursday after he disembarked from an overseas flight, probably from Singapore, the FBI said.

He was arrested on two counts of the charge of transmitted threat, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko.

McCrudden's lawyer, Bruce Barket, told CNNMoney that his client pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, N.Y.

McCrudden is accused of publishing an online "execution list" of 47 government and industry officials from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Futures Association and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, according to the U.S. district attorney.

He is also accused of sending an e-mail to a futures association official saying, "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," according to the complaint from the U.S. attorney.

McCrudden is also accused of making an online offer of a $100,000 reward for personal information for several of these officials, according to the bureau and the U.S. attorney's office.

The U.S. attorney's office said McCrudden made these threats, often using vulgar language, after the CFTC filed suit against him last month. The CFTC filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court accusing McCrudden, Alnbri Management and another entity, Managed Accounts Asset Management LLC, of not registering with the commission as commodity traders.

The CFTC declined to state Friday whether McCrudden was ever a registered commodity trader.

His lawyer batted back the accusations.

"Bad writing, vulgarity, bad use of metaphors and bad timing are not crimes," said Barket, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.

The website for Alnbri Management LLC identifies a Vincent McCrudden as its principal on one page and its CEO on another. The biography on the "About us" page describes McCrudden as having a 20-year history on Wall Street, having worked at the New York Commodity Exchange, as well as hedge funds and banks that he declined to name.

The Alnbri website says it was general partner of the Hybrid Fund II, "which had returns of 99.6% in 2008 and 37.67% in 2009 before being sold to another firm."

Much of McCrudden's online biography consists of a diatribe against "a colluded Government attempt to discredit and harass Mr. McCrudden through repeated bogus procedures. Mr. McCrudden has sought relief by suing multiple agencies and officials for $1 billion. But this has not stopped certain higher ranking officials because they know that Judges are Government employees too."

The bio also describes McCrudden as a former professional soccer player as well as an amateur boxer.

Efforts to reach Alnbri Management by an e-mail address listed on the site and a phone number listed in an online directory were not immediately successful.