“Leverage & Extortion” One Man’s Story of How The US Government Operates by Vincent McCrudden

Vincent McCrudden was born and raised on Long Island, New York. Most of his adult career was spent on Wall Street. During 20 plus years, McCrudden either executed or traded hundreds of billions of dollars of sophisticated financial instruments for the top financial institutions in the world. During some of his time on Wall Street, he worked in the World Trade Center and survived both attacks in 1993 and 2001. On 9/11 he lost 23 friends.

In 1995 McCrudden started a small hedge fund with some wealthy partners, but the fund did not really get off the ground and unfortunately was the victim of fraud in the copper markets that resulted in some of the biggest fines in futures history against Sumitomo Bank, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and others. Because of his experience and knowledge in the industry, McCrudden became a lead plaintiff against these large financial institutions and the victims were awarded billions of dollars in damages. Unknown to him at the time, McCrudden became a target of these big financial institutions and the US Financial Regulators that do their bidding. Ultimately, McCrudden would be denied licenses that he had worked so hard to get, and would shockingly be charged with mail fraud in 2000. In 2003, eight years after the Sumitomo, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch fraud, McCrudden was acquitted in federal court after a 2.5 week trial in less than an hour of deliberations. He faced over six years in jail even though his fund was the actual victim of fraud and the investors suffered no economic loss.

McCrudden would endure sixteen years and counting of harassment and abuse of authority at the highest levels in Government. In 2008 and 2009 when the world was embroiled in the financial crisis, McCrudden ran a small hedge fund that produced a 138% net audited return to investors while the greatest transfer of wealth (or debt depending on how you look at it) from private to public in the history of the world was underway. In 2008 with a return of 99.6% return, McCrudden’s fund was one of the best performing multi-strategy funds in the world according to independent databases TASS, Hedgefund.net and Bloomberg. The Government and US Financial Regulators would not tolerate McCrudden’s success and went after him harder, forcing him to sell his successful fund.

After meeting and writing Senators, Congressmen, the media, Project on Government Oversight, Ombudsman, Inspector Generals and many more and getting no relief or help, McCrudden left all he has ever known including his two children to try and re-start his life in Singapore. Less than 3 months in Singapore however, McCrudden continued to be harassed and was sued by the CFTC for $58 million dollars for a “simple registration violation.” Around the same time, the house that McCrudden’s ex-wife and children lived in was raided by Homeland Security, the FBI and the local police, a place where McCrudden had not lived in four years. They interrogated McCrudden’s nineteen year old daughter who was home alone from college. Angered and outraged as any parent would be, McCrudden wrote some provocative things on his company website after seeing from the website host that all the top IP addresses viewing the website were all Government agencies. After consulting with his attorney, on January 14, 2011, McCrudden left his fiancé in Singapore to “speak” with law enforcement about what was written. After a nineteen hour direct flight, McCrudden was met at the airport by 40 armed federal agents and would never see the light of day again for two years. McCrudden was denied bail and charged with the web site postings, but was also was charged with an email that he denied he ever sent from September. McCrudden now believes that either the NSA or some Government agency set him up or framed him. McCrudden was incorrectly told he faced 30 years in prison and was extorted to plead guilty.

When finished with serving his two years in federal prison, McCrudden was shocked and disappointed at how he was perceived in the media and sought to correct it. The media would not debate the case, investigate it, nor speak with him.
Now, McCrudden has written a true memoir with a little bit of his upbringing, his stint as a professional soccer player, his experiences in New York City, his career on Wall Street, and his struggles with the US Government and all of its tentacles. McCrudden believes his story can have newfound credibility with all the new information about the NSA and all of its clandestine dealings. McCrudden believes with Julian Assange, Wiki leaks and Edward Snowden, the public would be more open and outraged to read and hear a story like his. McCrudden views himself as just a father, an apprentice that learned a trade and tried to excel at it only to be thwarted at every turn by Government lawyers who abused their authority…..for sport no less.

This story will resonate with many people and start the education of what many citizens and people of the world are just starting to further understand, that unfortunately, the United States is not the land of the free. This story will help educate people through significant details of the loss of a man’s life’s dreams, a career, and freedom after serving two years in federal prison for something McCrudden denied and was unable to defend himself properly after being imprisoned right off the plane.

I hope you will find time to read this story and help McCrudden on his journey to educate people, and ultimately, evoke change.