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NEW DELHI: A former FBI special agent who led a counterintelligence division has been sentenced to over four years for providing information to a Russian oligarch under US sanctions, Guardian reported.
Charles McGonigal, who worked at the FBI for 22 years and investigated high-profile cases, is one of the highest-ranking FBI officials to ever be convicted of a crime.After his retirement in 2018, he reportedly provided information to a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska to harm a business competitor.
McGonigal received a payment of $17,500 for laundering from a Russian bank to Cyprus to a business bank account in New Jersey and then to McGonigal’s private account.
On Thursday he was sentenced to 50 months in prison and fined $40,000. The judge for the southern district of New York, Jennifer H Rearden, said her sentence was meant to balance McGonigal’s 22 years of FBI service with the “extremely serious” nature of his crimes.
“Charles McGonigal violated the trust his country placed in him by using his high-level position at the FBI to prepare for his future in business. Once he left public service, he jeopardized our national security by providing services to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian tycoon who acts as Vladimir Putin’s agent,” said Damian Williams, a US attorney, in a statement on the sentencing.
“Today’s sentence is a reminder that anyone who violates United States sanctions – particularly those in whom this country has placed its trust – will pay a heavy penalty.”
McGonigal also awaits another sentencing in Washington DC early next year for pleading guilty of concealing $225,000 in payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer, as reported by the Guardian.
Charles McGonigal, who worked at the FBI for 22 years and investigated high-profile cases, is one of the highest-ranking FBI officials to ever be convicted of a crime.After his retirement in 2018, he reportedly provided information to a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska to harm a business competitor.
McGonigal received a payment of $17,500 for laundering from a Russian bank to Cyprus to a business bank account in New Jersey and then to McGonigal’s private account.
On Thursday he was sentenced to 50 months in prison and fined $40,000. The judge for the southern district of New York, Jennifer H Rearden, said her sentence was meant to balance McGonigal’s 22 years of FBI service with the “extremely serious” nature of his crimes.
“Charles McGonigal violated the trust his country placed in him by using his high-level position at the FBI to prepare for his future in business. Once he left public service, he jeopardized our national security by providing services to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian tycoon who acts as Vladimir Putin’s agent,” said Damian Williams, a US attorney, in a statement on the sentencing.
“Today’s sentence is a reminder that anyone who violates United States sanctions – particularly those in whom this country has placed its trust – will pay a heavy penalty.”
McGonigal also awaits another sentencing in Washington DC early next year for pleading guilty of concealing $225,000 in payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer, as reported by the Guardian.
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