The insular world of FBI counterintelligence agents was rocked last month, when one of them, Charles F. McGonigal, the FBI’s former top counterintelligence official in New York, was indicted for allegedly selling access to Russian and Albanian officials in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
Illegal work
After retiring from the FBI in 2018, McGonigal was accused of illegally working for one of Russia’s most notorious oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, who was linked to the FBI’s Russia investigation through his ties to former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Former FBI officials who worked with McGonigal said they were stunned, disappointed, and ”angry” when they learned the news. One called the allegations ”appalling”.
”This guy was incredibly well respected and considered a professional counterintelligence specialist. He was one of those ”rock stars” (in counterintelligence) who, when the tough jobs came up when the very sensitive assignments came up, were on the short list of people you’d look at and say, “Hey, where’s Charles, what is he doing for the next six months?”,” said a former senior FBI official who worked with McGonigal.
There has been speculation about the potential damage McGonigal could have caused, including whether he exposed sensitive information that could harm United States (U.S.) national security. As a senior counterintelligence official, McGonigal had access to some of the most sensitive information held by the FBI, as well as information from the CIA and other agencies.
Sold access
He was also familiar with the FBI’s collection techniques, operations against Russian diplomats in the U.S., and more, according to former officials familiar with his work.
There are also questions about his proximity to several high-profile investigations, including those involving Hillary Clinton and associates of Donald Trump.
Nearly two years before his retirement in 2018, the Justice Department alleges that McGonigal effectively sold his access to senior U.S. officials, attempting to broker meetings for individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on behalf of a person formerly associated with Albanian intelligence.
McGonigal allegedly accepted at least 225.000 dollars for that help, all while lying to the FBI about his activities, including multiple trips to Europe paid for by his Albanian contact, as well as a secret relationship he maintained with the prime minister of Albania.
After he retired in 2018, according to the New York indictment, McGonigal violated U.S. sanctions by accepting illegal payments to help Deripaska try to get U.S. sanctions against him lifted and to investigate a political rival in Russia.
Financial relations
For some current and former officials, McGonigal’s behavior while still at the bureau was ”more appalling”, as a former senior official put it, than the Deripaska-related allegations against him that occurred after he retired. A particularly troubling claim is that McGonigal led the FBI to open a criminal investigation against an American citizen in which a person with ties to Albanian intelligence was expected to act as a human source – but failed to disclose his own financial dealings with that person, Avaz reports.
E.Dz.
