Corporate Governance

A money manager has been arrested by federal authorities for allegedly threatening to kill 47 officials with several financial regulators.

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Vincent McCrudden, a commodities fund manager, at the Newark airport Wednesday.

According to a federal complaint unsealed Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commision (CFTC) filed a civil lawsuit against McCrudden at the beginning of December for operating two unregistered commodity pools, according to an FBI affidavit.

A few weeks later, McCrudden began sending expletive-laden emails to CFTC officials handling the case, which included threats to the attorneys handling the case, and CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler, the FBI said.

The bureau also claimed that there were pages on McCrudden's website that railed against government agencies, and one that included an "execution list" of 47 current and former officials with the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission, National Futures Association, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

"Go buy a gun, and lets get to work in taking back our country from these criminals. I will be the first one to lead by example," McCrudden allegedly wrote on the site.

Even though the threats precede the Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), they take on a new light after the event, as lawmakers and others have debated whether heated political rhetoric could incite violence, and whether lawmakers and other federal officials need additional security.

McCrudden's attorney, Bruce Barket, said McCrudden was not violent, but merely "ill-mannered and short-tempered," according to Reuters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Kansas technology company that manages government websites, including the official site of the Federal Election Commission, with failing to disclose "wide-ranging perks" handed out to its former chief executive officer.

The SEC maintained Wednesday that NIC Inc. failed to tell the public in its filings about more than $1.18 million in perks paid over six years to the company's former CEO, Jeffrey Fraser, his girlfriend and his family.

The alleged perks included $4,000 a month in rent for a Wyoming ski lodge, the costs for Fraser to commute from Wyoming to the Kansas office via private aircraft, vacations for Fraser, his girlfriend and his family, a leased SUV, and Fraser's flight training, hunting, skiing, spa and health club expenses.

Eight senators are urging regulators to maintain strict rules against excessive speculation by investors in oil and commodities markets to avoid sudden price hikes. 

The lawmakers cautioned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), charged with determining the limits on the amount of speculative investments in oil, wheat and other commodities under the Dodd-Frank Act, not to be swayed by arguments from the financial sector to delay or approve less restrictive rules. 

With oil and food prices again on the rise, Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent the letter to "ensure federal regulators act quickly to rein in Wall Street excesses and prevent another speculative bubble that threatens to drive up gas and food prices even further for working Americans. "

"It has become increasingly clear that Wall Street seeks to use the rulemaking process to eviscerate the new position limits," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the CFTC on Wednesday ahead of a Thursday CFTC meeting. "We urge you to reject calls to delay the new rules."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit a program that helps federal employees who suffer on-the-job injuries.

The ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security panel, Collins wrote in a letter to the GAO that she is concerned that the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act program has “potential for waste, fraud, and abuse.”

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Think a government regulation is burdensome? Rep. Darrell Issa wants to know. 

The incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently sent a letter to more than 150 think tanks, trade associations and private businesses, his office announced Tuesday, asking those groups which proposed and existing regulations "have negatively impacted job growth in your members' industry."

The federal agencies tasked with preventing another financial crisis are pinching pennies after Congress failed to approve extra funding.

Toyota has agreed to pay an additional $32.425 million in civil penalties as the result of two separate investigations into the auto maker's handling of auto recalls. 

The penalty is the third for Toyota this year, and the maximum allowed under U.S. law — $16.375 million in the "sticky pedal" case and $16.050 million for steering relay rod recalls, the Transportation Department announced late Monday.

In 2010, Toyota paid $48.8 million in fines including $16.4 million the automaker agreed to pay in April, in response to the assertion that it failed to notify National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) within five days of learning of the "sticky pedal" defect. The fines will be paid into the Treasury Department's General Fund.

"I am pleased that Toyota agreed to pay the maximum possible penalty and I expect Toyota to work cooperatively in the future to ensure consumers' safety," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said late Monday in a release.

American companies that rely on so-called "conflict minerals" would have to file an annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission and post its findings on its own website detailing where the minerals came from, including if they originated in combat-riddled areas of Africa, under proposed rules unveiled by the SEC.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has made one of its first big hires, bringing on board Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head its enforcement division, according to media reports.

Cordray, a Democrat and vocal bank critic who led the effort on the state level to explore mortgage foreclosure practices, will join the brand new bureau after losing his reelection bid to Republican Mike DeWine, Reuters reported.

The president's adviser charged with setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says the bonuses "stagger" her.