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Former top FBI official Charles McGoniga why you working for Russia

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Gengs1

Gengs1 2583

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https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-fbi-official-charles-mcgonigal-arrested-ties-russian/story?id=96609658

 

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Former top FBI official Charles McGonigal arrested over ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

A former top FBI official in New York has been arrested over his ties to a Russian oligarch, law enforcement sources told ABC News Monday.

Charles McGonigal, who was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI's New York Field Office, is under arrest over his ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who has been sanctioned by the United States and criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions.

McGonigal retired from the FBI in 2018. He was arrested Saturday afternoon after he arrived at JFK Airport following travel in Sri Lanka, the sources said.

He was charged along with a court interpreter, Sergey Shestakov, who also worked with Deripaska.

McGonigal, 54, is charged with violating U.S. sanctions by trying to get Deripaska off the sanctions list. McGonigal is one of the highest ranking former FBI officials ever charged with a crime.

McGonigal and Shestakov, who worked for the FBI investigating oligarchs, allegedly agreed in 2021 to investigate a rival Russian oligarch in return for payments from Deripaska, according to the Justice Department. McGonigal and Shestakov are accused of receiving payments through shell companies and forging signatures in order to keep it a secret that Deripaska was paying them.

Both face money laundering charges in addition to charges for violating sanctions. Each of four counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

"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," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement. "Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence."

Driscoll continued, "As alleged, Mr. McGonigal and Mr. Shestakov, both U.S. citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a U.S. entity to obscure their activity in violation of U.S. sanctions. After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful. There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal."

After leaving the FBI, McGonigal subsequently worked for Deripaska through a law firm representing the Russian oil tycoon.

He made at least $25,000 working as an "investigator" for the law firm on the Deripaska matter, according to the indictment.

McGonigal then worked directly for Deripaska, getting an initial payment of $51,000 and then payments of $41,790 each month for three months from August 2021 to November 2021.

He told friends he was working for "a rich Russian guy," according to the indictment, and stressed his work was legal. In conversations about Deripaska, he would often be referred to by McGonigal and Shestakov as "the big guy" and "you know whom."

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., unsealed a separate case Monday against McGonigal on charges he received $225,000 in cash from an individual with business interests in Europe who McGonigal knew was an employee of a foreign intelligence service.

The nine-count indictment alleges between August 2017 and September 2018, leading up to his retirement from the FBI New York Field Office, McGonigal concealed from the bureau his relationship with this unidentified former foreign intelligence officer all while traveling abroad with the person and meeting foreign nationals. The person is described as an Albanian national who was employed by a Chinese energy conglomerate.

The person later "served as an FBI source in a criminal investigation involving foreign political lobbying" over which McGonigal had a supervisory role.
 

A lawyer for McGonigal has not responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Shestakov, 69, who was living in Morris, Connecticut, also allegedly lied to FBI investigators in November 2021 about his relationship with Deripaska. In addition to the other charges, he has been charged with one count of making false statements.

Deripaska, an aluminum magnate, was among two dozen Russians sanctioned in 2018 by the Treasury Department as punishment for "the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly malign activities in the world," according to Treasury officials.

The FBI searched his homes in New York and Washington in 2021.

The 55-year-old Deripaska is worth $1.7 billion, according to Forbes' Billionaires List, though he was worth nearly $7 billion in 2018 -- the same year sanctions kicked in by the U.S.


 

 

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28713

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Remember that Oleg Deripaska was the same Russian oligarch Paul Manafort had worked for and to whom he still owed a lot of money. Anywhere from $10-20 Million from what I’ve read. Manafort offered to manage Trump’s campaign for free and gave briefings to Deripaska. He also passed internal polling data to Deripaska associate Konstantin Kilimnik, himself a Russian spy whom Manafort knew from his days working for Putin’s puppet in Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who passed that data on to Russian intelligence. So not only had the Russians penetrated the Trump campaign, now we learn that they also had an asset working for them in the FBI on the investigation into their interference in the campaign. 

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wildcat09

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1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Remember that Oleg Deripaska was the same Russian oligarch Paul Manafort had worked for and to whom he still owed a lot of money. Anywhere from $10-20 Million from what I’ve read. Manafort offered to manage Trump’s campaign for free and gave briefings to Deripaska. He also passed internal polling data to Deripaska associate Konstantin Kilimnik, himself a Russian spy whom Manafort knew from his days working for Putin’s puppet in Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who passed that data on to Russian intelligence. So not only had the Russians penetrated the Trump campaign, now we learn that they also had an asset working for them in the FBI on the investigation into their interference in the campaign. 

Ok, I realize that sounds shady, but you're forgetting that Hillary killed Seth Rich! She hired the dossier guy to enter misinfo into the FBI to get them to investigate Trump as a distraction so she could personally kill Seth Rich! C'mon, you can't possibly think Trump might've been connected with Russia. That's too obvious to be true!

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Captainant

Captainant 27467

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This guy was THE GUY leading the trump<->russia probe, just so yall know lol. Wow, what a shock that the GOP also exempted deripaska from sanctions packages! 

 

I guess it must be my brainworms acting up, but it sure fucking seems like the GOP was whoring itself out to an adversary in order to get a domestic political advantage

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Longhorn_Fan68

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14 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

Where are you seeing this?

not exactly the head of the investigation, but he was in a position to influence things. so it's a bit of wish casting from some in here
https://www.newsweek.com/charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-2016-investigation-muller-1776049

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During his time in the FBI, McGonigal participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

He was also one of the key figures who helped trigger special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations that Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia to help the former president win the 2016 election.

McGonigal, while serving as chief of the cybercrimes section at the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, was among the first FBI officials to be made aware of allegations that George Papadopoulos, a 2016 campaign adviser for Trump, boasted that he knew Russians had political dirt on Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.

This information led to the FBI launching "Crossfire Hurricane," which would examine whether Trump officials had been coordinating "wittingly or unwittingly" with Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

 

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GW Hayduke

GW Hayduke 1952

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1 minute ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

not exactly the head of the investigation, but he was in a position to influence things. so it's a bit of wish casting from some in here
https://www.newsweek.com/charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-2016-investigation-muller-1776049

 

Yeah. That was generally what I’ve seen from other outlets. 

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Longhorn_Fan68

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3 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

Yeah. That was generally what I’ve seen from other outlets. 

don't get me wrong, I would not be the least bit surprised to learn he somehow affected the investigation, but right now the evidence isn't there. kinda makes you wonder how long we're going to be reading about crimes that happened leading up to and during dotard's time in office. could be decades

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Captainant

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10 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

not exactly the head of the investigation, but he was in a position to influence things. so it's a bit of wish casting from some in here
https://www.newsweek.com/charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-2016-investigation-muller-1776049

 

 

7 minutes ago, GW Hayduke said:

Yeah. That was generally what I’ve seen from other outlets. 

the DOJ press release (link) calls him the SAC of the NYC counterintelligence division, here's a direct quote:

CHARLES MCGONIGAL is a former Special Agent in Charge (“SAC”) of FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York, who retired in 2018.  While working at the FBI, MCGONIGAL supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

So it seems like it would follow that he could do quite a bit to influence whatever findings were ultimately published, since he was the special agent in charge

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Longhorn_Fan68

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1 minute ago, Captainant said:

 

the DOJ press release (link) calls him the SAC of the NYC counterintelligence division, here's a direct quote:

CHARLES MCGONIGAL is a former Special Agent in Charge (“SAC”) of FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York, who retired in 2018.  While working at the FBI, MCGONIGAL supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

So it seems like it would follow that he could do quite a bit to influence whatever findings were ultimately published, since he was the special agent in charge

right, and I don't think anyone here is arguing against that. it's just that the evidence isn't there - yet

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Captainant

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5 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

right, and I don't think anyone here is arguing against that. it's just that the evidence isn't there - yet

But to that initial question of "Did McG own the trump<->russia investigation?", a SAC is the chief of that station. As SAC, he was an approver of EVERY investigative work done in that office. He managed hundreds of people. He was being PAID BY A RUSSIAN OLIGARCH to help bypass sanctions. His office was in charge of investigating those oligarchs for sanctions violations.

Do you really think there's no "there" there? Did you think Russia would never invade Ukraine?

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Satchel

Satchel 6908

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The suspicion is Charles McGonigal was the source of much of Rudy’s inside info coming from the FBI NY field office.; that he was going to leak the investigation into Hillary, thereby forcing Comey’s hand, and that he was responsible for the no collusion decision between Trump and Russia, if true,  So much for the left leaning woke FBI.

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elfenix

elfenix 34172

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2 minutes ago, HamsterHookah said:

Who is everyone dunking on with the brain worms memes? I think I missed an inside joke.

«И черви съели его мозг» — слова из песни «Hey You» группы Pink Floyd.

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Longhorn_Fan68

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10 minutes ago, Captainant said:

But to that initial question of "Did McG own the trump<->russia investigation?", a SAC is the chief of that station. As SAC, he was an approver of EVERY investigative work done in that office. He managed hundreds of people. He was being PAID BY A RUSSIAN OLIGARCH to help bypass sanctions. His office was in charge of investigating those oligarchs for sanctions violations.

Do you really think there's no "there" there? Did you think Russia would never invade Ukraine?

jesus dude, we're saying the same thing. however, only one of is using the jump to conclusions mat here. if they had evidence that he impeded the investigation then don't you think that would have been included in the charges? what I think or believe doesn't mean shit. the facts are out there, let's wait until they're made known. unless you have info you aren't sharing with the group? 

and yes, I thought Russia would invade Ukraine. no one postures like that without following through - it makes you look weak. in the end, they were already weak - that much has been exposed now

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28713

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When Trump was in office I noticed that all the living Republican presidents and presidential candidates opposed him. Both Bushes (three if you count Jeb!), McCain, and Romney. Okay, so all except for one. Bob Dole supported Trump. I never understood why that was. I thought maybe it was just because Dole was old and senile.

Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just a coincidence but Dole worked for Oleg Deripaska back in 2000.

Quote

In 2000, Deripaska was keen to launch his company Rusal on the London Stock Exchange but was worried that his US visa ban would deter investors. To improve his image, he employed the former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, who was working for a Washington law firm, Allston and Bird, to lobby the state department and other agencies on his behalf.

Dole succeeded and Deripaska was allowed into the US for a brief visit in December 2000, when he gave lectures at Harvard University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. During the trip, he was interviewed by the FBI, which led to a second ban on his entering the US that is still in force today.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/31/oleg-deripaska-us-visa-rusal

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