Mike Seger/Reuters/File
Former FBI agent Charles McGonigal, who headed the agency’s counterintelligence division in New York, arrives in Manhattan federal court on February 9, 2023 in New York City.
CNN
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Ex Chief of Counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York Field Office He pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy in connection with a scheme to work for a Russian oligarchy that was sanctioned in 2021.
Charles McGonigal, a 22-year veteran of the FBI who retired in 2018, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and money laundering. US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Disgraced former FBI ranking officer Arrest In January, John F. Kennedy International Airport was charged in two separate indictments in New York and Washington, DC. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and hid hundreds of thousands of dollars he received from a former employee of the Albanian intelligence service while he was a top official in the bureau. McGonigal’s attorney, Seth DuCharme, recently indicated to a federal judge in Washington that the Albania case could be resolved by the end of the month.
In court Tuesday, before District Judge Jennifer Reardon pleaded guilty, McConnell answered a series of questions about Deripaska’s illegal scheme and his mental capacity.
“The mind is clear,” he told the judge, adding that he feels “great.”
In court, McGonigal, 55, said she was “deeply remorseful” for her actions.
“I stand before you in this court to take full responsibility because my actions were never intended to hurt the United States, the FBI and my family and friends,” he said, becoming emotional at times.
“I have agreed with another party to collect an open source defamatory information named after the Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin “He was a business rival of Oleg Deripaska,” he said. “I am aware that Deripaska has been placed on the sanctions list by the US government. It is my understanding that the information I have gathered will ultimately be used to place Potanin on the US sanctions list.
“I understood that the work I conducted would provide some benefit to Deripaska, and under US law, I should not provide any services to Deripaska, even indirectly,” he continued.
Reardon told the court that McGonigal now faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for a crime he pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.
He will be sentenced on December 14.
Her attorneys indicated they would ask the judge to consider classified information about McGonigal’s work for the U.S. government before imposing the sentence.
This story has been updated with additional details.
