A former top FBI official who was involved in Russia-focused investigations pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on a wealthy Russian oligarch.
On Tuesday, Charles McGonigal, a 55-year-old retired special agent who led the New York FBI Counterintelligence Division, entered a guilty plea in New York for one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and to commit money laundering. He had previously pleaded not guilty in the case, according to The Daily Wire.
The charge relates to McGonigal agreeing in 2021 to provide services to Oleg Deripaska, a sanctioned Russian oligarch by doing research on a rival Russian oligarch in exchange for secret payments, according to the Department of Justice.
“After his tenure as a high-level FBI official who supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, Charles McGonigal has now admitted that he agreed to evade U.S. sanctions by providing services to one of those oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “This Office will continue to hold to account those who violate U.S. sanctions for their own financial benefit.”
Last year, the Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Deripaska and others with violating U.S. sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
McGonigal was reportedly arrested in January at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York upon returning from a trip abroad. (RELATED: High-Ranking FBI Official Arrested for Russian Collusion – With Himself)
McGonigal faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
His attorney, Seth DuCharme, said in a recent status call in the D.C. matter that there was a “decent chance the case is going to be resolved” without having to go to trial, according to CNN. The report noted that the judge has set a hearing for September 13.
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