BY ELENA ANDREI | 23.01.2023
Charles McGonigal, former director of the Counterintelligence Division of
CHARLES McGONIGAL
A former senior FBI official has been arrested and charged with four felonies over his ties to a US-sanctioned Russian oligarch.
Charles McGonigal, former director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division in New York, was arrested Saturday night, according to the Justice Department.
He faces four charges, including money laundering, for secretly providing services to oligarch Oleg Deripaska in violation of US sanctions.
Sergei Shestakov, a Russian interpreter, faces the same four charges and an additional charge of making false statements during an FBI investigation.
"As alleged, McGonigal and Shestakov, both U.S. citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a U.S. entity to conceal their activity in violation of U.S. sanctions," said FBI Deputy Director Michael Driscoll.
"Supporting a designated threat to the United States and our allies is a crime that the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue."
Last year, McGonigal was investigated for ties to foreign governments, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro, according to Business Insider.
According to the witness statement, prosecutors were looking into whether McGonigal had ties to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as any "payments or gifts" made to him by the governments of Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.
Two sources told "Insider" that McGonigal was close to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
According to an email reviewed by the media company, McGonigal used his official FBI email address to try to arrange a meeting between Rama and an American firm.
No comments:
Post a Comment