by Elizabeth Elkind at Daily Mail
- Charles McGonigal was targeted by a grand jury subpoena late last year
- An explosive new report claims he had multiple engagements with an aide to Kremlin-linked oligarch Oleg Deripaska
- Deripaska was sanctioned by the US Treasury for ‘malign activity’ and ‘attempting to subvert western democracies, and malicious cyber-activities’
- McGonigal allegedly introduced Deripaska’s aide to a law firm specializing in helping defendants accused of fraud
A senior FBI official who investigated Donald Trump‘s alleged links to Russia is now under the microscope for his own Moscow ties, a bombshell new report revealed on Thursday.
Charles McGonigal is the former counterintelligence chief at the FBI’s New York City field office.
He has not been charged with any crimes, Insider reports.
But if McGonigal’s work with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska proves to have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at most.
Deripaska, a close ally of Vladimir Putin’s, was also a close contact of Trump 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort and is thought to have played a leading role in the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere in that presidential race.
He and business tied to him were sanctioned by the Treasury Department for ‘malign activity’ and ‘attempting to subvert western democracies, and malicious cyber-activities.’
McGonigal’s links to Deripaska are reportedly at the heart of a grand jury subpoena that was issued in secret in November 2021.
It’s not clear if the investigation is still ongoing.
But the explosive Thursday report suggests McGonigal has had multiple contacts with an aide to Deripaska, including a referral to a law firm that ended up being a lucrative deal for a former Soviet official…
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