(Breaking News)Ex-counterintelligence Head In FBI’s N.Y. Office Arrested On Charges Of Money Laundering And Violating Russia Sanctions

The for­mer head of coun­ter­in­tel­li­gence for the FBI’s New York City office was arrest­ed over the week­end on charges of mon­ey laun­der­ing and vio­lat­ing sanc­tions on Russia, three senior law enforce­ment offi­cials told NBC News. An FBI spokesman con­firmed the arrest of Charles McGonigal, who was appre­hend­ed at JFK air­port in New York on Saturday after return­ing on a flight from the Middle East.
Prosecutors allege that McGonigal worked with Russian oli­garch Oleg Deripaska, Deripaska asso­ciate Sergey Shestakov, and a third per­son to inves­ti­gate a rival Russian oli­garch in return for pay­ments from Deripaska.
According to pros­e­cu­tors, McGonigal, Shestakov and the third per­son tried to con­ceal Deripaska’s involve­ment through shell com­pa­nies, forged sig­na­tures and oth­er means.

The activ­i­ty alleged­ly occurred three years after McGonigal’s 2018 retire­ment from the FBI. A senior law enforce­ment offi­cial told NBC News a sec­ond case against McGonigal filed in fed­er­al court in Washington, D.C., will allege he took hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars from a for­mer for­eign intel offi­cial while still serv­ing in the FBI.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “As alleged, Charles McGonigal, a for­mer high-lev­el FBI offi­cial, and Sergey Shestakov, a Court inter­preter, vio­lat­ed U.S. sanc­tions by agree­ing to pro­vide ser­vices to Oleg Deripaska, a sanc­tioned Russian oli­garch. They both pre­vi­ous­ly worked with Deripaska to attempt to have his sanc­tions removed, and, as pub­lic ser­vants, they should have known bet­ter.” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said, “The FBI is com­mit­ted to the enforce­ment of eco­nom­ic sanc­tions designed to pro­tect the United States and our allies, espe­cial­ly against hos­tile activ­i­ties of a for­eign gov­ern­ment and its actors. Russian oli­garchs like Oleg Deripaska per­form glob­al malign influ­ence on behalf of the Kremlin and are asso­ci­at­ed with acts of bribery, extor­tion, and violence.”
Read the full sto­ry here: https://​www​.nbc​news​.com/​p​o​l​i​t​i​c​s​/​n​a​t​i​o​n​a​l​-​s​e​c​u​r​i​t​y​/​e​x​-​c​o​u​n​t​e​r​i​n​t​e​l​-​h​e​a​d​-​f​b​i​-​n​e​w​-​y​o​r​k​-​m​c​g​o​n​i​g​a​l​-​a​r​r​e​s​t​e​d​-​r​c​n​a​6​6​995