Leverage & Extortion (Paperback) | Released: 25 Jan 2014

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 but 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. McCrudden became a lead plaintiff against these large financial institutions. 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 be shockingly 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 federal prison even though his fund was the actual victim of fraud, and the investors suffered no economic loss. McCrudden would endure nineteen 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. In 2008 with a return of 99.6% return, McCrudden's fund was one of the best performing multi-strategy funds in the world. The Government and US Financial Regulators would not tolerate McCrudden's success and went after him harder, forcing him to sell his successful fund. 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 $390k dollars for a "simple registration violation." Around the same time, the house that McCrudden's ex-wife and children lived in was raided by the Government, a place where McCrudden had not lived in four years. They interrogated McCrudden's nineteen-year-old daughter who was home alone from college. Angry, as any parent would be, McCrudden wrote some provocative language 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 charged with an email that he denied he ever sent from September. McCrudden now believes that the NSA or some Government agencies set him up or framed him. McCrudden was incorrectly told he faced 30 years in prison and was extorted to plead guilty. 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 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. I hope you will find time to read this story and help McCrudden on his journey to educate people, and ultimately, evoke change.
About the Author: Vincent McCrudden was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He was an All League and All State Soccer player and attended the University of Rhode Island on a scholarship. In his freshman year, the University of Rhode Island Soccer Team made it to the elite eight of the NCAA Championship. McCrudden studied marketing and economics while at URI. After attending URI, McCrudden briefly played professionally for the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Minnesota Strikers of the NASL. McCrudden started his career on Wall Street in 1985 working on the floors of the Commodity Exchange. During the course of his 25 year Wall Street career, McCrudden either executed or traded hundreds of billions of dollars of sophisticated financial instruments for the top financial institutions in the world and perhaps his greatest accomplishment was that he never had a customer complaint. Although McCrudden worked mostly as an agency broker, he did start and run his own hedge funds twice. In 2008, McCrudden's Hybrid Fund, II, LP finished its first year with a 99.6% net audited return and was ranked by Hedgefund.net, Tremont and Bloomberg as one of the best multi-strategy funds in the world. In 2009, the fund finished with a 37.6% net audited return. In nineteen months of trading, MCrudden's fund finished with a 138% net audited return while the world's financial markets were in a meltdown. McCrudden was married in 1990 and has two beautiful children. Due to pressures outlined in his memoir from the Government, McCrudden divorced in 2011. McCruddens career was hijacked by the Department of Justice and US Financial Regulators. Even moving ten thousand miles away to Singapore did not stop the Government from pursuing McCrudden for personal vendettas and sport. McCrudden suffered multiple regulatory processes and four criminal trials. One trial lead McCrudden to plead guilty and serve two years in federal prison rather than risking 30 years in prison for something he didn't commit. McCrudden is twice survivor of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks of 1993 and 2001. In 2001, McCrudden lost 23 friends. McCrudden continues to live on Long Island with his fiancé and love of his life, Bernadette. He started the Project For Government Reform (www.pfgr.org) in 2014. McCrudden dedicates this book to his children, and the love of his life, Bernadette.