Ex top FBI officer Charles McGonigal held over ties with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

A former senior FBI agent in New York had been arrested due to his affiliations with a Russian oligarch,ABC News reported on Monday.Charles McGonigal, a special agent in charge of counterintelligence at the FBI's New York Field Office, has beenarrested because of his ties with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who the US has sanctioned and who was criminally accused last year of breaching those sanctions.

McGonigal left the FBI in 2018. He was detained on Saturday afternoon after arriving at JFK Airport from Sri Lanka, according to the sources.

The Justice Department claims that in 2021, McGonigal and Shestakov, two FBI oligarch investigators, agreed to look into a rival Russian tycoon in exchange for money from Deripaska. In order to conceal the fact that Deripaska was paying McGonigal and Shestakov, it is alleged that they utilised phoney firms to receive money and forged signatures.

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Along with allegations of breaking sanctions, both of them are accused of money laundering. The maximum jail time for each of the four offences is 20 years.

"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."

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

Shestakov, 69, who was based in Morris, Connecticut, is also accused of lying to FBI agents about his connection with Deripaska in November 2021. He faces one count of making false statements in addition to the other accusations.

According to Treasury officials, Deripaska, an aluminum mogul, was one of twenty Russians sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 as retaliation for "the Russian government's continuous and more nefarious operations throughout the globe."

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In 2021, the FBI raided his residences in Washington and New York.

Deripaska, 55, is reported to have a net worth of $1.7 billion on Forbes' Billionaires List, despite having a value of roughly $7 billion in 2018 when USsanctions were imposed.

(With inputs from agencies)

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