Top FBI official who investigated Trump over Russiagate convicted of collusion with Russia
A former senior FBI official, who led the agency's counterintelligence division in New York and played a key role in the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for colluding with Russia – and could face an even longer sentence on a second charge of hiding $225,000 in payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer.
Charles McGonigal, 55, was arrested in January and convicted on two separate charges, one by prosecutors in New York and one in Washington: The New York case involved receiving nearly $200,000 in bribes from Russian oligarch Oleg V Deripaska to investigate a rival oligarch, while Washington's case involved money taken from Albanians.
McGonigal earned at least $25,000 as an investigator for a law firm before working directly for Deripaska. He received an initial payment of $51,000 and then payments of $41,790 each month for three months from August 2021 to November 2021, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said McGonigal hid his ties to the Russian oligarch by telling friends he was working for a “rich Russian” and emphasizing that his work was legal. In conversations about Mr. Deripaska, he tried to keep his employer's identity secret by referring to him as "the big man" and "you know who ." Washington Times
McGonigal pleaded guilty in August after being hit with four initial charges of bribery, then one count of conspiracy to evade U.S. sanctions, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate federal law prohibiting business with sanctioned individuals. Each charge carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
While running New York's counterintelligence division, McGonigal was responsible for overseeing and participating in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.
The indictment unsealed Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan charges former FBI official McGonigal with one count of violating U.S. sanctions, one count of money laundering and two counts of conspiracy. – New York Times
McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in prison and a $40,000 fine by Judge Jennifer H. Rearden of Federal District Court on Thursday. Rearden said the sentence was designed to balance McGonigal's more than two-decade career as a law enforcement officer with the "extremely serious" nature of his crimes, which she said threatened national security.
Prosecutors said McGonigal violated U.S. sanctions and laundered money while working for Russian billionaire and businessman Oleg Deripaska. Egudicco a photo of the Russian
McGonigal added that while he had no intention of undermining the sanctions against Deripaska, which have been central to American efforts to punish Russia, “that's exactly what he ended up doing” when he investigated Deripaska's rival, Vladimir Potanin .
McGonigal's work on behalf of the oligarch – obscured by the use of shell companies and subcontractors – involved seeking information on Potanin's affairs. The ultimate goal, according to prosecutors, was to have sanctions imposed on Potanin, thus potentially leveling the playing field with Deripaska. But the plot unraveled within a few months, after the FBI seized McGonigal's cell phone and that of another associate, Sergey Shestakov. – New York Times
In short, we are at a very high level of corruption for a public official who, among other things, lifts the veil on a perverse web of private consultancy and investigations that make the FBI an instrument in the hands of the richest or most powerful.
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The article The senior FBI official who investigated Trump on Russiagate convicted of collusion with Russia comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lalto-funzionario-fbi-che-indago-trump-sul-russiagate-condannato-per-collusione-con-la-russia/ on Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:39:44 +0000.