Disgraced FBI counterintell chief now faces up to FIVE YEARS in prison

Disgraced FBI counterintelligence chief Charles McGonigal now faces up to FIVE YEARS in prison after pleading guilty to doing illegal work for Russian oligarch

McGonigal served as top FBI official in New York during Russia probe
He said he accepted more than $17k to help energy magnate Oleg Deripaska
DOJ National Security Division said he ‘betrayed his oath’

Former FBI counterintelligence agent Charles McGonigal pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan Tuesday, admitting to doing work for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

McGonigal admitted he agreed after leaving the bureau to work for an oligarch he had once investigated as part of the Russia probe, and to seek dirt on the oligarch’s wealthy rival in violation of sanctions on Russia.

McGonigal, 55, entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan to a single count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and to commit money laundering, saying he was ‘deeply remorseful for it.’

Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, arrives to Manhattan federal court in New York, Tuesday. He faces up to five years in prison following his guilty plea

McGonigal told Judge Jennifer H. Rearden that he carried out his crime in the spring and fall of 2021, accepting over $17,000 to help Russian energy magnate Oleg Deripaska by collecting derogatory information about a Russian oligarch who was a business competitor of Deripaska.

‘This, as you can imagine, has been a painful process not only for me, but for my friends, family and loved ones,’ McGonigal said. ‘I take full responsibility as my actions were never intended to hurt the United States, the FBI and my family and friends,’ he said in court Tuesday.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 14, when McGonigal could face up to five years in prison.

It came at a change of plea hearing, after McGonigal earlier pleaded not guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Dell told the judge that prosecutors had proof McGonigal was making efforts to remove Deripaska from a U.S. sanctions list.

McGonigal admitted accepting over $17,000 to help Russian energy magnate Oleg Deripaska by collecting dirt on a rival

She also said McGonigal in 2021 was in negotiations along with co-conspirators to receive a fee of $650,000 to $3 million to hunt for electronic files revealing hidden assets of $500 million belonging to Deripaska´s rival.

McGonigal, a resident of Manhattan, is separately charged in federal court in Washington, D.C. with concealing at least $225,000 in cash he allegedly received from a former Albanian intelligence official while working for the FBI.

McGonigal was special agent in charge of the FBI´s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018. McGonigal supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, who was sanctioned in 2018 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury´s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia later affirmed the sanctions against Deripaska, finding that there was evidence that Deripaska had acted as an agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

McGonigal, who became choked up at one point as he described his crime, said Deripaska funneled the $17,500 payment he received through a bank in Cypress and a corporation in New Jersey before it was transferred into McGonigal’s bank account.

In a release, Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said, ‘McGonigal, by his own admission, betrayed his oath and actively concealed his illicit work at the bidding of a sanctioned Russian oligarch.’

‘Today´s plea shows the Department of Justice´s resolve to pursue and dismantle the illegal networks that Russian oligarchs use to try to escape the reach of our sanctions and evade our laws,’ he added.

Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, arrives to Manhattan federal court in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, center, arrives to Manhattan federal court in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The charges against McGonigal came as U.S. prosecutors ramped up efforts to enforce sanctions on Russian officials and police their alleged enablers in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Deripaska, the founder of Russian aluminum company Rusal, was among two dozen Russian oligarchs and government officials blacklisted by Washington in 2018 in reaction to Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

Among the areas probed by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators is Deripaska’s relationship with former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

Mueller’s report said Manafort told associates to provide Deripaska with internal polling data.

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