A former FBI agent has been arrested for his ties to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. According to the American press Charles McGonigal – former special agent in charge of counter-terrorism in the FBI office in New York – was stopped last Saturday at John Fitzgerald Kennedy airport on his way back from Sri Lanka. McGonigal, who left the federal agency in 2018, is accused of violating US sanctions by trying to have him removed Deripaska from the list of persons sanctioned by the United States.
Deripaska, an aluminum tycoon with ties to the Russian president Vladimir Putinwas a client of Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager of Donald Trump. McGonigal pleaded not guilty through his attorney. “Charlie has been in the service of the United States effectively for decades. We have evaluated the allegations made by the government and are waiting to see the evidence on which he intends to base himself,” explained the former agent’s lawyer. The arrest took McGonigal’s former colleagues by surprise.
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The interpreter was also arrested with McGonigal Sergey Shestakov, 69, and both are due to appear in Manhattan court. The offense is that of violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. Shestakov is also accused of making false statements to the FBI.
McGonigal, who had overseen investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, before retiring in 2018, reportedly worked to get Deripaska’s sanctions lifted in 2019 and took money from him in 2021 to investigate a rival oligarch. McGonigal was obligated to report contacts with foreign officials to the FBI, but prosecutors say he covered it up while pursuing business and overseas trips that created a conflict of interest with his duties.
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The former FBI agent was separately charged in a Washington DC federal court with concealing $225,000 in payments received from an outside source with whom he traveled to Europe. The US Treasury Department added Deripaska to its sanctions list in 2018 for alleged ties to the Russian government and the Russian energy sector.