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New York Times': The arrest of Charles McGonigal sent shock waves through the national security community

Politiko 2023-01-30 17:03:22

New York Times': The arrest of Charles McGonigal sent shock waves through

The arrest of Charles McGonigal, a former senior official FBI employee, on charges of helping a Russian oligarch sent shockwaves through the national security community, writes the well-known American media ' New York Times'.

Mr McGonigal may have been turned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska - as reported by The Times and Insider - after he is accused of breaching US sanctions. Prosecutors portrayed the case as the story of an American investigator who was bribed by someone he was investigating. (A representative for Mr. Deripaska denied to The Times that the billionaire had ever employed Mr. McGonigal; a lawyer for Mr. McGonigal declined to comment.)

The US had sought to recruit Mr Deripaska as an informant. The billionaire had spent years trying to buy respect in the West and had even cooperated with the US, including spending $25 million of his own money trying to rescue an FBI agent who had been captured in Iran.

He was known to be close to President Vladimir Putin of Russia (although Mr Deripaska's representative denies this) and to have ties to organized crime, and gained increased attention from Washington in 2016 when it emerged that he had once employed a Trump adviser , Paul Manafort. .

Until Mr. McGonigal retired in 2018, he led the counterintelligence bureau of the FBI's New York office - and investigated Russian oligarchs. It is not clear how he entered Deripaska's orbit, but prosecutors say that Mr. McGonigal, while still employed by the FBI, was introduced to a Russian employee in 2018.

According to charging documents, Mr. McGonigal was asked to help the daughter of Deripaska's employee, known in the indictment as Agent-1, get an internship with the New York Police Department. (The insider reports that the girl never became an intern.) After Mr. McGonigal retired, he introduced Agent-1 to an international law firm to help lift sanctions against Mr. Deripaska and signed the contract as a consultant and investigator. He met Mr Deripaska in London and Vienna, and was later in talks to work directly for the Russian oligarch.

New York Times': The arrest of Charles McGonigal sent shock waves through

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