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United StatesEx-FBI official arrested for his links with a Russian oligarch
Charles McGonigal, now retired, was reportedly paid to overturn sanctions once morest Oleg Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal. He faces 20 years in prison.
The accused headed the unit responsible for counterintelligence within the FBI office in New York, before retiring.
Photo d’illustration/AFP
A former senior federal police official was arrested in the United States on Saturday over his troubled dealings with foreign actors, including Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, the US Department of Justice said on Monday.
Charles McGonigal, 54, headed the counterintelligence unit at the FBI office in New York before retiring in 2018, according to a ministry statement. Arrested this weekend in New York, he is being prosecuted in two separate cases.
New York federal justice accuses him of having worked for the founder of the aluminum giant Rusal, although the latter has been targeted since 2018 by American sanctions prohibiting him from any commercial relationship with Americans.
Sanctions Violation and Money Laundering
Charles McGonigal, who had investigated Russian oligarchs when he was at the FBI, is suspected of having tried, in 2019 – without success – to have the sanctions once morest Oleg Deripaska canceled, then of having carried out investigations in 2021 on one of his rivals. According to the indictment, he was paid through shell companies and had done business through an intermediary.
Charged with violation of sanctions and money laundering, he faces 20 years in prison. He is due to appear before a judge on Monday with an alleged accomplice, a former Russian diplomat who became a naturalized American and became a sworn translator for the judicial system.
225,000 dollars in cash as a kickback
In addition, Charles McGonigal is being prosecuted by federal justice in Washington for having concealed, while he was still at the FBI, payments made in connection with his activities in Eastern Europe. According to the indictment, he notably received $225,000 in cash from a former Albanian secret service agent, naturalized American, whom he accompanied on business trips to Albania and Kosovo . He had established a relationship with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, which he never made public, in violation of his obligations.
(AFP)
