By Steve Neavling
FBI Director Christopher Wray told bureau employees that the allegations against former high-ranking agent Charles McGonigal do not represent the behavior of the FBI’s rank-and-file, ABC News reports.
McGonigal, the former special agent in charge of the FBI’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.
He 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.
The FBI did not comment on the internal message, but released a statement from Wray on the charges.
“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.
McGonical pleaded not guilty.
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.
