McGonigal's condemnation of the Albanian affair, Fox News: Tried to hide corrupt financial dealings with the government

A former top FBI counterintelligence official was sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a businessman with ties to the Albanian government and trying to hide their corrupt financial dealings. writes Fox News. 

Charles McGonigal, 55, oversaw national security operations for the FBI in New York for nearly two years before retiring in 2018.

He appeared to advance Albanian interests in the U.S. after soliciting and receiving roughly $225,000 in 2017 from a man who had worked for an Albanian intelligence agency, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced McGonigal to two years and four months in prison in the case brought in Washington, D.C. She ordered him to serve it consecutively with a 50-month prison sentence in a separate case in New York, so that he faces a total of six years and six months when he appears in prison next month.

McGonigal expressed regret and sorrow for what he called "mistakes," saying he betrayed the trust and confidence of his loved ones.

"For the rest of my life, I will fight to regain that faith and become a better person," he told Kollar-Kotelly before she handed down his sentence.

The judge told McGonigal that it appears he "lost his moral compass" at the end of a distinguished FBI career when he held one of the highest national security posts in the federal government. She said his remorse seemed genuine.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't repair the damage," she added.

Justice Department prosecutors had recommended McGonigal be sentenced to two years and six months in prison for the Washington case alone.

In December, a federal judge in New York sentenced McGonigal to four years and two months in prison for conspiring to violate sanctions against Russia for a Russian oligarch he once investigated. The oligarch, billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska, was under US sanctions for reasons related to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

McGonigal was scheduled to appear in prison next month to begin serving his sentence in the New York case. His lawyers asked the judge in Washington to refrain from imposing more prison time, arguing that he has already received a "just punishment" for his crimes.

McGonigal was separately accused of concealing his ties to the former Albanian official, a naturalized American citizen living in New Jersey. McGonigal has said he borrowed $225,000 to start a security consulting business after retiring from the FBI. He did not pay back the loan.

In 2017, McGonigal flew to Albania with his benefactor and met with a former Albanian energy minister and the country's prime minister. According to prosecutors, McGonigle warned the prime minister to avoid granting oil field drilling licenses in Albania to Russian companies. They say McGonigal's travel companion and the energy minister had a financial stake in the Albanian government's drilling license decisions.

McGonigal pleaded guilty last September to concealing material facts, a charge punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He admitted that he did not report the loan, his trip to Europe with the person who loaned him the money or his contacts with foreign officials during the trips.

"He put his greed above serving his country," a prosecutor, Elizabeth Aloi, said Friday.

The FBI had to review many other investigations to determine whether McGonigal compromised any of them during his tenure.

"The defendant has worked on some of the most sensitive and important cases handled by the FBI. His lack of credibility, as revealed by his conduct on the basis of his conviction, could jeopardize all of that," write the prosecutors.