Former FBI Agent Charles McGonigal Pleads Guilty to Helping Russian Oligarch
The former U.S. counterintelligence chief said he accepted secret payments from sanctioned billionaire Oleg Deripaska Charles McGonigal, once head of the FBI’s counterintelligence operations in New York, pleaded guilty over his ties to a Russian oligarch. Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press By Dylan Tokar and Alan Cullison Aug. 15, 2023 3:00 pm ET A former high-level U.S. counterintelligence agent pleaded guilty to accepting secret payments from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, in a case that has raised questions about Russian influence on the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The guilty plea entered by Charles McGonigal in Manhattan federal court represents a spectacular admission for a former senior FBI of
Charles McGonigal, once head of the FBI’s counterintelligence operations in New York, pleaded guilty over his ties to a Russian oligarch.
Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press
A former high-level U.S. counterintelligence agent pleaded guilty to accepting secret payments from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, in a case that has raised questions about Russian influence on the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The guilty plea entered by Charles McGonigal in Manhattan federal court represents a spectacular admission for a former senior FBI official who retired from the agency in 2018 after a career that saw him rise to become the head of the agency’s counterintelligence operations in New York, a position where he held insight into some of the agency’s most sensitive investigations.
On Tuesday, McGonigal said he had agreed to do open-source research for Deripaska on one of the oligarch’s rivals, Vladimir Potanin, in hopes of getting the latter Russian added to U.S. blacklists. McGonigal accepted $17,500 from the oligarch, knowing that the work and the payment, which he admitted trying to conceal, violated sanctions that were placed on Deripaska in 2018.
“As you can imagine, this has been a painful process,” McGonigal told the court during an emotional declaration. “I appear before you and this court to take full responsibility for [my actions].”
Write to Dylan Tokar at [email protected] and Alan Cullison at [email protected]
What's Your Reaction?
