A former high-ranking employee of the FBI has been accused of aiding a Russian oligarch in violating US sanctions, the Associated Press reports.
Charles McGonigal, a former special agent who headed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, is accused of working with a former Soviet diplomat to protect the interests of Russian energy magnate Oleg Deripaska. Separately, McGonigle is charged in federal court with concealing $225,000 in payments from an outside source he traveled within Europe.
McGonigal was required to report contacts with foreign officials to the FBI. Still, prosecutors say he withheld them from his employer because he was involved in business and traveled abroad, creating a conflict of interest with his law enforcement duties.
McGonigal, who led investigations into Russian oligarchs including Deripaska until his retirement in 2018, reportedly worked to lift sanctions on Deripaska in 2019 and took money from him in 2021 to investigate a rival oligarch, BTA reports.