By Steve Neavling
A former high-ranking FBI agent is accused of taking money for his alleged work with a sanctioned Russian oligarch, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Charles McGonigal, the former special agent in charge of counterintelligence at the bureau’s New York Field Office, was arrested Saturday and charged with violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and conspiring to commit money laundering.
McGonigal, 54, who supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs before his retirement in 2018, is accused of working with Oleg Deripaska, who has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2018 and was indicted last year on sanctions charges.
Prosecutors say McGonigal agreed to help Deripaska investigate a rival oligarch and try to get him off the sanctions list.
McGonigal is accused of working with Sergey Shestakov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat who became an American citizen, to help Deripaska.
Shestakov was also charged in the case.
