Ex-FBI counterintelligence chief jailed to over four years for working with Russian oligarch

For working for a sanctioned Russian tycoon after leaving the FBI, the former New York field office counterintelligence head was sentenced to slightly over four years in jail.

In August, 22-year FBI veteran Charles McGonigal pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate US sanctions and money laundering for working for rich Russian Oleg Deripaska, a Putin ally.

Judge Jennifer Rearden sentenced McGonigal to 50 months, barely under the five-year maximum. A judge ordered McGonigal to surrender to prison on February 26.

The judge ruled that McGonigal violated and manipulated sanctions regimes crucial to US national security, resulting in a significant jail term. The judge said that his acts “do not all together stamp out” his outstanding career and “profoundly important contributions” to the US.

Before sentence, McGonigal told the judge he felt “deep sense of remorse and sorrow for my actions.”

The former FBI counterintelligence chief's work for Deripaska put US national security at risk, so prosecutors recommended five years in prison. If a foreign government had to choose between military supplies and having McGonigal "on their payroll," it would be easy.

Due to McGonigal's decades of public service, his counsel, Seth DuCharme, requested a no-prison sentence. He said Deripaska instructed McGonigal to investigate a rival oligarch, which though not “particularly nefarious,” was illegal.

For a separate case in Washington, DC, McGonigal pleaded guilty in September to hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars and foreign contacts with a former Albanian intelligence employee. February will see his sentencing.