Ex-FBI counterintelligence official tied to Trump-Russia probe charged with violating US sanctions

The Justice Department announced Monday charges against former FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal for allegedly violating sanctions on Russia by providing services to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom the retired FBI agent investigated as part of the agency's so-called Russia collusion probe.

The charges come through the New York Southern District U.S. Attorney's Office, which unsealed a five-count indictment against McGonigal, who served as the special agent in charge of the FBI's New York Counterintelligence Division until his retirement in 2018, and translator Sergey Shestakov.

Shestkov is a former Soviet and Russian diplomat and U.S. citizen who worked as a Russian interpreter for the U.S. government.

McGonigal was also separately charged by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia for allegedly concealing $225,000 in cash from an outside source.

The New York charges are related to money laundering and violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. 

During his time working at the FBI, McGonigal reportedly investigated Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska.

The oligarch was already sanctioned in 2018 for allegedly helping Trump become president in 2016. He was charged in September with violating sanctions imposed after Russian invaded Ukraine. Prosecutors allege that he was involved in a scheme to have his girlfriend give birth in the United States so the child could be a U.S. citizen.

Deripaska, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who ran Russian aluminum company RUSAL, was accused of coordinating the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia in 2016, with the overall accusations having later been discredited.

During his business dealings in Russia, President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, asked for intelligence and risk analysis report on Deripaska, according to documents obtained by Just the News last year.