Vincent McCrudden Arrested: Ex-Commodities Trader Allegedly Made Threats Against Regulators

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBS/AP) Vincent McCrudden, a former New York commodities trader, is charged with making repeated death threats against federal regulators.

McCrudden is accused of threatening 47 employees of the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission and other agencies.

Prosecutors say he also posted a $100,000 reward on his website seeking personal information about several government officials.

His biography on what CNBC identifies as his website says, "Government employees should be individually accountable and not be able to hide behind the veils of their entities." The site claims that after being harassed, "Mr. McCrudden has sought relief by suing multiple agencies and officials for $1 Billion."

According to CNBC, the website previously featured a list of people who should be "exposed and held accountable."

A criminal complaint says the threats followed a CFTC civil enforcement lawsuit filed against McCrudden. The complaint says McCrudden has been the subject of various enforcement or disciplinary proceedings over several years.

According to The New York Times, the complaint says that McCrudden threatened that their actions "can only end with violence against these life long lawyers that work at these agencies."

McCrudden was arrested Thursday at Newark Liberty International Airport after returning from Singapore. He had an initial court appearance Friday in federal court in Central Islip.

McCrudden's lawyer Bruce Barket told Reuters that McCrudden is not guilty.

"He is at times ill-mannered and short-tempered, and not very articulate in terms of expressing himself," Barket told the wire service. "But the idea that he was actually threatening somebody is ludicrous."