AP Explains: Ex-FBI official pleads guilty to conspiracy charge

(15 Aug 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 August 2023
1. Wide of Charles McGonigal, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, arriving to federal court
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, Associated Press:
“Charles McGonigal, a former top FBI official in New York, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that in 2021 he helped dig up dirt on a rival of a Russian oligarch he once investigated.”
3. Mid of McGonigal arriving to federal court
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, Associated Press:
“He will be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on December 14th. He could face up to five years in prison.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 9 February 2023
5. Close of Charles McGonigal, at court for earlier hearing

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 August 2023
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, Associated Press:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“In this instance, to work for a Russian oligarch, who he had once investigated, digging up dirt on a rival is the kind of thing that would really send shockwaves throughout the FBI.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: New York – 9 February 2023
7. Close of Charles McGonigal, at court for earlier hearing

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 August 2023
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, Associated Press:
++PARTIALLY COVERED:
“And he apologized and he got a little choked up at one point, as he said he never meant to harm the United States or his coworkers and others.”
9. Wide of McGonigal, arriving to federal court
STORYLINE:
A former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to violate sanctions on Russia by going to work, after he retired, for an oligarch he once investigated.

Appearing before a federal judge in New York City, Charles McGonigal, 55, said he was “deeply remorseful” for work he did in 2021 for the billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska.

McGonigal told the judge he accepted over $17,000 to help Deripaska collect derogatory information about another Russian oligarch who was a business competitor. Deripaska has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018 for reasons related to Russia’s occupation of Crimea.

McGonigal was also trying to help Deripaska get off the sanctions list, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Dell said, and was in negotiations along with co-conspirators to receive a fee of $650,000 to $3 million to hunt for electronic files revealing hidden assets of $500 million belonging to the oligarch’s business rival.

McGonigal pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to launder money and violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He could face up to five years in prison. Judge Jennifer H. Rearden scheduled his sentencing for Dec. 14.

McGonigal, who lives in New York, is separately charged in federal court in Washington, D.C. with concealing at least $225,000 in cash he allegedly received from a former Albanian intelligence official while working for the FBI.

McGonigal was special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018. He supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

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