Just this past Saturday, former FBI official Charles McGonigal was arrested for alleged illegal ties to a Russian oligarch.
This is a breaking story, with details still coming in.
Ironically enough, McGonigal was known as the head of counterintelligence at the New York field office and had played a part in the investigation into supposed ties between Donald Trump and Russia.
According to CBS News, the former FBI official had been arrested due to “his ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who has been sanctioned by the United States and criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions.”
Deripaska is an aluminate magnate known to be worth about $1.7 billion. Back in 2018, he was sanctioned by the Treasury Department due to “the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly malign activities in the world.”
Business Insider also reported that McGonigal “was involved in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia during the 2016 election.”
In addition to McGonigal, court interpreter Sergey Shestakov was arrested that same Saturday for his ties to the same Russian oligarch.
Back in 2021, both McGonigal and Shestakov investigated one of Deripaska’s rivals in exchange for payment, which was received through shell companies, according to the DOJ.
Both men are facing money laundering charges, where “Each of four counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison,” as stated by CBS News.
FBI assistant director Michael Driscoll released a statement:
“The FBI is committed to the enforcement of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors.”
Driscoll continued:
“Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence. As alleged, Mr. McGonigal and Mr. Shestakov, both U.S. citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a U.S. entity to obscure their activity in violation of U.S. sanctions. After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful. There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal.”
