A former commodities trader was sentenced to 28 months in prison on Friday for threatening to kill dozens of US officials at the nation's top securities and commodity regulators, including posting a 250,000 euro ($327,382) bounty on Facebook. Vincent McCrudden, 51, was accused in January 2011 of posting an online "execution list" of officials, including Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler.
McCrudden pleaded guilty last July in US District Court in Central Islip, New York, to two counts of transmission of threats to injure. The sentence handed down by US District Judge Denis R. Hurley includes nearly 13 months of time served, said Sarita Kedia, one of McCrudden's lawyers. He had faced up to 10 years in prison. "It's less than what was recommended by the government. We're satisfied that the judge really considered the matter and sentenced him appropriately," she said.