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Former top FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges he violated U.S. sanctions on Russia by working after retirement for a Russian oligarch he previously investigated.
Charles McGonigal, 55, told a federal court in New York City that he "deeply regrets" the work he did in 2021 for Russian billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska.
Mr McGonigal told the court he received more than $17,000 from Deripaska to help him gather negative information about another Russian oligarch who was a business competitor. The United States has imposed sanctions on oligarch Deripaska since 2018 for reasons related to Russia's occupation of Crimea.
Former agent McGonigal was also trying to help Deripaska get removed from the sanctions list, Assistant Federal Prosecutor Rebecca Dell said, and had also entered into negotiations, along with several associates, for a reward of $650,000 to $3 million in exchange. of searching for electronic documents that could reveal about $500 million in assets hidden by his business rival.
Mr McGonigal pleaded guilty to a single charge and could face up to five years in prison. His sentence will be announced at a court hearing on December 14.
Former agent McGonigal, who lives in New York, has been charged separately in a federal court in Washington with concealing at least $225,000 he allegedly received from a former Albanian intelligence official while still working for the FBI. -in.
Charles McGonigal was a special agent in the FBI's counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018. He oversaw investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.
The Washington court has confirmed the sanctions against the oligarch Deripaska, underlining the evidence that he had acted as an agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. McGonigal said Deripaska's payment to him of $17,500 was made through a bank in Cyprus. The money was transferred to a company in New Jersey before being deposited into his bank account. The firm in New Jersey, according to the indictments, belonged to the Albanian-American, who had given former agent McGonigal the $225,000, part of the other indictment against him in Washington.
“This, as you can imagine, has been a painful process not only for me, but for my friends, family and loved ones. I take full responsibility, as my actions were never intended to harm the United States, the FBI, my family and my friends," Mr. McGonigal said.
The senior national security official at the Justice Department, Matthew G. Olsen, said that "McGonigal himself admitted that he betrayed his oath and actively concealed his illegal work in the service of a Russian oligarch under sanctions."
"The guilty plea demonstrates the Justice Department's determination to pursue and dismantle the illicit networks that Russian oligarchs use to evade our sanctions and laws," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, who heads the Department's Homeland Security Directorate. of Justice. /VOA
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