Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A former FBI special agent was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Thursday for supplying information to a Russian tycoon, thereby violating U.S. sanctions.
According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Charles McGonigal, 55, who headed a counterintelligence division but left the agency in 2018 was sentenced to 50 months in prison.
Stonix News reliably gathered that after McGonigal had retired from the agency, he violated U.S. sanctions when he supplied information to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska in 2021.
McGonigal received $17,500 from Deripaska, laundered from Gazprom Bank in Russia to Cryprus to a business bank account in New Jersey and then McGonigal’s private account.
Oleg Deripaska, whose net worth has been estimated at more than $3 billion, is an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“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,” U.S. District Attorney’s Office said
McGonigal pleaded guilty to working for Russian oligarch, saying he was deeply remorseful and will take full responsibility and that he never intended to hurt the U.S. or F.B.I.
“I am truly sorry for this as it minimized all I have done in honor of my service to the U.S. Government, specifically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI.
“My actions taken for the purpose of making money pist-retirement from the FBI overrode my good judgement and values,” McGonigal wrote in a statement of responsibility submitted to the court in advance of his sentence.
