Ex-FBI Agent Involved in Trump Collusion Investigation Charged With Working With Russia

Ex-FBI Agent Involved in Trump Collusion Investigation Charged With Working With Russia

(UnitedVoice.com) – Retired FBI Special Agent Charles F. McGonigal left the agency in 2018. At the time of his retirement, he was the special agent in charge of the New York counterintelligence division. In his position, he oversaw some of the most secret and sensitive probes in the federal agency.

In McGonigal’s final years with the agency, he was involved in the FBI investigation into whether then-President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. He worked on the probes into both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. Eventually, the agency determined there was no collusion after reviewing the work of agents like McGonigal. Five years after leaving his position in New York, indictments against him have been unsealed in two separate cases.

New York Indictment

On Monday, January 23, the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) released a statement notifying the public of various charges against McGonigal. According to the press release, a multiple-count indictment against him was unsealed.

The former FBI official and his alleged associate, Sergey Shestakov, are charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, money laundering, and conspiring and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). McGonigal is accused of violating US sanctions by agreeing to do the bidding of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

In 2021, the SDNY alleges McGonigal and Shestakov agreed to investigate one of Deripaska’s billionaire rivals in return for money. They followed through with the agreement. The former FBI official was very much aware that working with the sanctioned Russian oligarch would violate the law.

McGonigal is facing 80 years in prison for those counts.

District of Columbia Indictment

On the same day the SDNY announced its indictment, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia also issued a press release informing the public that McGonigal was arrested on a charge of falsification of records and documents and a charge of making false statements.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, the probe into McGonigal began in 2017 and continued after he retired from the FBI. He is accused of concealing from the agency a relationship he had with a former foreign security official who had ongoing business in other countries. The former FBI official requested to be paid $225,000 from the unnamed individual. McGonigal then traveled overseas with the person and met with foreign officials.

In the DC case, he is facing at least 25 years in federal prison.

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