Charles McGonigal, head of New York’s counterintelligence department: arrested at John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport on Saturday, returning from a trip to the Middle East
A former FBI chief has been accused of violating US sanctions against Russia by receiving hidden payments from oligarch Oleg Deripaska (pictured).
Charles McGonigal, 54, who headed the New York branch, was arrested on Saturday for violating sanctions and money laundering. An anonymous source confirmed to NBC News that McGonigal was arrested at John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport in New York, returning from a trip to the Middle East.
McGonigal, along with legal interpreter Sergei Shestakov, has worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, providing services including trying to get US sanctions lifted against him, said Damian Williams, attorney for New York’s Southern Judicial District. According to the indictment, McGonigal and two other accomplices attempted to cover up Deripaska’s financial activities through shell companies and forgery.
The meeting
The US Treasury Department added Deripaska to its sanctions list in 2018 for alleged ties to the Russian government and the Russian energy sector. New York prosecutors allege that McGonigal was introduced in 2018 by Shesktaov, a former Soviet diplomat who worked as an agent for Deripaska. This person is not identified in court documents, but the Justice Department says public records said he was a Russian intelligence officer.
According to the indictment, Shesktaov asked McGonigal for his help in getting an internship with the New York Police Department for Deripaska’s officer’s daughter. McGonigal agreed, prosecutors say, and told a police department contact that I have ties to his father for a variety of reasons.
January 23, 2023 (change January 23, 2023 | 18:48)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED