Retired FBI Agent Who Led Trump-Russia Probe Arrested for His Own Ties to Russian Oligarch

Charles McGonigal (57), a former senior FBI counterintelligence official who led the Trump-Russia probe, has been arrested and charged with violating U.S. sanctions by agreeing to provide services to Oleg Deripaska, a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

McGonigal and another man, Sergey Shestakov (69), were both arrested on Saturday and charged with five counts, including money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions, and making false statements.

They have a court date in Manhattan set for Monday and are both currently detained in a federal prison in Brooklyn.

McGonigal was also one of the first bureau officials to learn of allegations that George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser for former President Donald Trump, bragged that he knew Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton, which launched the investigation into alleged Russian election interference known as Operation Crossfire Hurricane, Fox News reports.

The former FBI agent had supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, before retiring in 2018, and allegedly worked to have Deripaska’s sanctions lifted in 2019 and took money from him in 2021 to investigate a rival oligarch, according to The Associated Press (AP).

McGonigal and Shestakov “both previously worked with Deripaska to attempt to have his sanctions removed, and, as public servants, they should have known better,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.

“This Office will continue to prosecute those who violate U.S. sanctions enacted in response to Russian belligerence in Ukraine in order to line their own pockets,” he added.

“The FBI is committed to the enforcement of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll. “Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence.”

“After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful,” Driscoll went on to say. “There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal. Supporting a designated threat to the United States and our allies is a crime the FBI will continue to pursue aggressively.”

Despite being required to report contacts with foreign officials to the FBI, McGonigal allegedly concealed this information from his employer, while pursuing business and traveling abroad which created a conflict of interest with his law enforcement roles.

In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department added Deripaska to its sanctions list based on allegations of involvement with the Russian government and Russia’s energy sector.

The New York indictment alleges that McGonigal was introduced by Shestakov in the same year to a former Soviet diplomat who functioned as an agent for Deripaska. Although the diplomat is not identified in court papers, the Justice Department says he was “rumored in public media reports to be a Russian intelligence officer,” according to AP.

LATEST VIDEO