1674657632 The downfall of a former FBI special agent suspected of

The downfall of a former FBI special agent suspected of acting on behalf of a Russian billionaire

Charles McGonigal, former Special Agent for the FBI's Counterintelligence Division in New York, exits court in New York on January 23, 2023. Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, exits New York courthouse January 23, 2023. JOHN MINCHILLO/AP

Greed was fatal to Charles McGonigal. This former senior FBI investigator was arrested on January 21 upon arrival in New York from Sri Lanka for his links to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York released a lengthy statement on Monday revealing this spectacular case involving the top of the police institution. The quality of the sensitive information the suspect had access to and the magnitude of the suspicion he was exposed to in two separate investigations make his career exceptional. A second man, Sergey Shestakov, a court-sworn translator, was also arrested. Both pleaded not guilty when they appeared in court on Monday.

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“Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska wield harmful influence in the world on behalf of the Kremlin and have been associated with corruption, extortion and violence,” said Michael Driscoll, deputy director of the New York office of the FBI, for which Charles McGonigal worked a long time. Mr. McGonigal and Mr. Shestakov, both US citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a US entity to cover up their activities, in violation of US sanctions. Mr Deripaska has been on the list of Russian figures under US sanctions since 2018.

Special Agent Charles McGonigal, 54, worked for the FBI between 1996 and 2018. For the past two years he has headed the Counterintelligence Division in the New York office. As such, he “monitored and participated in investigations by Russian oligarchs, particularly Deripaska,” the press release said. Sergey Shestakov, 69, is a former Soviet-turned-Russian diplomat, naturalized American and interpreting convert. It was he who emailed McGonigal to a representative of Oleg Deripaska in the United States. The special agent then got that agent’s daughter an internship with the New York City Police Department.

Punished with decades in prison

In 2019, a year after the special counsel’s departure, the two men lobbied Deripaska to get – unsuccessfully – his removal from the sanctions lists. McGonigal was paid by a law firm in New York as a consultant after meeting the billionaire in London and then Vienna. The pandemic would have compromised their efforts without further details, according to the indictment.

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