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A former FBI particular agent who headed a counterintelligence division was sentenced to greater than 4 years in jail Thursday for supplying info to a Russian oligarch in violation of U.S. sanctions, prosecutors stated.
Charles McGonigal, now 55, was sentenced to 50 months in jail, the U.S. District Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York stated.
After he had retired from the company, McGonigal violated U.S. sanctions when he equipped info to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in 2021, officers stated.
The data McGonigal collected was open-source info, he stated in a plea settlement.
In alternate, McGonigal obtained $17,500 from Deripaska, laundered from Gazprom Financial institution in Russia to Cyprus to a enterprise checking account in New Jersey after which McGonigal’s personal account, he instructed the court docket.
Whereas on the FBI, McGonigal was particular agent accountable for a counterintelligence division in New York. He left the company in 2018.
Deripaska is an affiliate of Russian President Vladimir Putin whose web value has been estimated at greater than $3 billion. He was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and he has been criminally charged within the U.S. for violating the sanctions.
“Charles McGonigal violated the belief his nation positioned in him through the use of his high-level place on the FBI to arrange for his future in enterprise,” U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams stated in a press release. “As soon as he left public service, he jeopardized our nationwide safety by offering providers to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian tycoon who acts as Vladimir Putin’s agent.”
When McGonigal pleaded responsible, he stated he was “deeply remorseful” and takes “full accountability and by no means meant to harm the U.S., F.B.I. or my household.”
In a press release of accountability submitted to the court docket prematurely of his sentencing, McGonigal wrote that “my actions taken for the aim of creating wealth post-retirement from the FBI overrode my logic and values.”
“I’m actually sorry for this because it minimized all I’ve accomplished in honor of my service to the U.S. Authorities, particularly, the Division of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI,” he wrote.
McGonigal pleaded responsible in August to conspiring to violate the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act and to commit cash laundering, in response to a plea settlement within the case.
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