Work for oligarchs lands ex-FBI agent in prison
At the FBI, he is the head of the counter-intelligence department, but then he switches sides. Charles McGonigal is secretly working for a Russian oligarch who is subject to US sanctions. He now pays for this with a prison sentence and a fine.
A former high-ranking employee of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for secretly working for US-sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Charles McGonigal was sentenced to four years and two months in prison and a fine of 40,000 dollars (around 37,000 euros), according to the Department of Justice in Washington.
The former head of the FBI's counter-intelligence division in New York had pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to evade sanctions laws and money laundering. The 55-year-old was arrested and charged in January.
According to the US Department of Justice, McGonigal had investigated Russian oligarchs during his time with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Even before he left the FBI in 2018, he is said to have established contacts with a representative of Deripaska in order to work for the Russian aluminum billionaire after his time with the federal police. He is then said to have carried out investigations into a rival Russian oligarch in 2021 in return for secret payments.
"Charles McGonigal betrayed the trust his country placed in him by using his high position at the FBI to prepare his business future," said prosecutor Damian Williams. Once he left public service, he had "put our national security at risk" by working for Deripaska, who was acting as an "agent" of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Authorities representative Larissa Knapp explained that McGonigal's conduct could be summed up in one word: "treason". The US authorities had imposed sanctions on Deripaska in 2018 due to his closeness to Putin.
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The case of Charles McGonigal, a former FBI agent, highlights the consequences of working against US sanctions. He was sentenced to prison for conspiring to evade sanctions laws and money laundering, specifically while working for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, subject to US sanctions. This case serves as a reminder of the seriousness of espionage activities involving oligarchs linked to international tensions, such as those between the USA and Russia.
Source: www.ntv.de
