By Steve Neavling
The former high-ranking FBI agent accused of working for a Russian oligarch and conspiring to commit money laundering is negotiating a potential agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty next week in federal court.
Charles McGonigal, the former head of the counterintelligence of the FBI’s New York Field Office, was charged in January with money laundering, violating sanctions against Russia while working with an oligarch, and taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a foreign national and foreign intelligence official.
McGonigal, who retired from the FBI in 2018, initially pleaded not guilty.
According to a judge’s order, McGonigal is scheduled for a plea proceeding on Aug. 5, ABC News reports.
“The Court has been informed that Defendant Charles McGonigal may wish to enter a change of plea,” the order said.
McGonigal, among other things, is accused of violating U.S. sanctions for trying to remove Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska from the sanctions list. In exchange for payments from Deripaska, McGonigal is also accused of investigating a rival Russian oligarch.
In a separate case, McGonigal was charged with concealing $225,000 that he allegedly received from a former Albanian intelligence employee.
A few days after McGonigal was charged, FBI Director Christopher Wray told bureau employees that the allegations against the former agent do not represent the behavior of the bureau’s rank-and-file.
“The way we maintain the trust and confidence of the American people is through our work — showing, when all the facts come out, that we stuck to the process and we treated everyone equally, even when it is one of our own,” Wray said in the statement.
“The FBI will go to great lengths to investigate and hold accountable anyone who violates the law, including when the individual is an FBI employee. We hold ourselves to the highest standard, and our focus will remain on our mission and on doing the right thing, in the right way, every time,” Wray added.
