Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty over illegal work for Russian oligarch under US sanctions

Charles McGonigal, a former FBI official who has been charged with working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, arrives at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - A former FBI agent admitted to working for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska while he was under U.S. sanctions and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in a New York court on Tuesday, in exchange for prosecutors dropping other charges.

Prosecutors in January said Charles McGonigal, who led the FBI's counterintelligence division in New York before retiring in 2018, received concealed payments from Deripaska in exchange for investigating a rival businessman and unsuccessfully pushed in 2019 to have Deripaska's sanctions lifted.