Former top FBI official Charles McGonigal arrested over ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

[demmiblue]

Source: ABC

A former top FBI official in New York has been arrested over his ties to a Russian oligarch, law enforcement sources told ABC News Monday.

Charles McGonigal, who was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI’s New York Field Office, is under arrest over his ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who has been sanctioned by the United States and criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions.

McGonigal retired from the FBI in 2018. He was arrested Saturday afternoon after he arrived at JFK Airport following travel in Sri Lanka, the sources said.

He was charged along with a court interpreter, Sergey Shestakov, who also worked with Deripaska.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-fbi-official-charles-mcgonigal-arrested-ties-russian/story?id=96609658

[cilla4progress]

1. I imagine he has some beans

to spill.

[DBoon]

68. For that reason, I hope he is kept away from top floor open windows

and that Novichok antidotes are nearby

[samsingh]

2. wasn't it the new york fbi office that hated Hillary and contributed to forcing

Comey's hand in releasing the bullsit information and lies about her?

[niyad]

7. That was my first thought.

[orangecrush]

48. Not enough popcorn

In the world for this

[obamanut2012]

10. Yes

[KPN]

22. Yup. And there was a lot of scuttlebutt about a rogue reich-wing element in the NY FBI office

at the time as I recall.

Let's hope Garland is more effective than some (including myself) tend to believe and is actually in the process of rooting out renegade elements.

[cilla4progress]

32. My recollection and thoughts

exactly!

[onetexan]

43. THIS!!☝️

[yardwork]

28. Yes. And not a coincidence, it looks like.

We always knew that Russia helped get Trump in the White House.

[Mc Mike]

46. Yep. I had the same thought, too.

[edhopper]

49. Yes

the bullshit about finding the nothing burger laptop.

[calimary]

51. Some guys just don't know what to do about brilliant and powerful women.

Except hate and resent them, I guess.

That says more about them than will EVER be said about her.

[ShazzieB]

58. Some men are terrified of brilliant and powerful women.

That's why they can't deal with them. The very existence of such a woman throws them for a loop, because it's contrary to everything they've been taught to believe about the "rightful place" of women, and their brains can't even process the concept.

Brilliant and powerful women make them acutely uncomfortable, and that discomfort makes them angry. The hate and resentment are an outgrowth of that.

Men who have this kind of reaction to brilliant and powerful women are pathetic creatures, and there are still far too many of them in positions of power. It's a huge problem.

[msfiddlestix]

60. You got it n/t

[Justice matters.]

3. Lemme guess... (or ask the question)

RepubliQan?

[ancianita]

4. For a sellout, he sure didn't sell out for much.

[Captain Zero]

53. Was Trump laundering his payments from Russia?

He might have made a lot. $$$$$$$$$$

[ancianita]

55. Entirely possible.

[gibraltar72]

5. Any questions??

[dweller]

8. Yes

Who arrested him ?
It just says law enforcement …


✌🏻

[billh58]

20. From the linked article:

"The FBI is committed to the enforcement of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement. "Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence."

Driscoll continued, "As alleged, Mr. McGonigal and Mr. Shestakov, both U.S. citizens, acted on behalf of Deripaska and fraudulently used a U.S. entity to obscure their activity in violation of U.S. sanctions. After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful. There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal."

It appears that the FBI was the enforcement agency in these arrests.

[Justice matters.]

59. Nice statement. SHould also apply to the Russian stooge

who occupied and desecrated the White House for four years.

[Duppers]

71. Indeed! 👍

[MOMFUDSKI]

63. Yes.

Can we go back to firing squads for traitors?

[2naSalit]

6. K&R

[dlk]

9. Money talks

It’s surprising how many people can be bought.

[mitch96]

11. Moscow Mitch got Derapaska to put an aluminum plant in Kentucky.. Can we arrest him? nt

[FM123]

19. How I would love that!

[DBoon]

31. That would require an investigation first...

...many many hours of public Congressional investigation

Perhaps lasting until the 2024 elections

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. I'd love to see Gym Jordan's spin on an investigation

[mitch96]

54. McConnell and Deripaska have been sleeping together for a while

An article from The Daily Kos
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/30/2004140/-Why-is-McConnell-Getting-Away-with-the-Deripaska-Scandal

Long story short excerpts

Lobbyist and former Senator David Vitter was spotted outside McConnell’s office waiting for a meeting days before the bill to lift the sanctions on Derapaska was brought to the Senate floor.

Three months after the sanctions were lifted (April 2019), Rusal (Deripaskas Company) announced it would be investing $200 million into a Kentucky aluminum mill run by Braidy Industries, becoming a 40% stakeholder in the project.

Before sanctions were lifted, McConnell was already looking to make a deal with Deripaska to build a plant in Kentucky
This is curious. David Vitter’s radical Right-wing wife Wendy was nominated for a federal judgeship in January 2018. The nomination had languished for more than a year, but in May 2019 her stalled nomination was finally pushed through by McConnell and company. David Vitter, as we saw above, was a major lobbyist pushing for lifting sanctions. A reward perhaps?

Mitch McConnell successfully fought to lift sanctions aimed at Deripaska.
Deripaska rewarded McConnell with promises of a substantial investment in Kentucky.
McConnell had made a deal with an outright enemy of the United States, a deal that would put money into the hands of McConnell’s friends and supporters b/c he pushed thru the nomination of Vitters right wing wife to judgeship. Uff

How many politicians are in the pocket of Deripaska.. That's how they roll.
m

[Hortensis]

80. Oh, yes. How Peking Mitch also became known as Moscow Mitch. nt

[Joinfortmill]

12. Remember Hillary's emails, Rudy, NY FBI, and Comey? This guy was there then.

[Chicago1980]

18. Yup...

That "October surprise"...

Rudy was making the rounds on right-wing media saying something was about to go down.

[KPN]

24. Geez, I forgot about that specific piece. I hope Garland is actually making an energized,

deliberate, and concentrated effort to root renegade elements out of the Homeland Security agencies. It' clearly needed.

[Lonestarblue]

27. I've always believed that agents in the NY office planted those emails, which were copies of

emails already reviewed, to mislead Comey into opening another investigation on Clinton. I’m sure he was happy to do so to help gut her election chances.

Considering how long Rudy had access to Hunter Biden’s computer, how hard would it have been for one of his NY FBI pals to plant emails or documents? I know both have system dates attached, but can a clever hacker change them?

[JHB]

67. They didn't need to plant anything, they were back-ups from Abedin's PDA

That was always the most likely scenario. What the NY office did was twiddle its thumbs about verifying that while while compatriots "leaked" fantasies about what had been "found" to eager RW press outlets. And because mainstream political media was just as eager as the wingnuts for a Clinton scandal that was actually true, it was all they talked about too.

Why plant false evidence (which might be traceable back to who did it) when you can plant a false media spin to serve the same purpose?

[PatSeg]

13. He wasn't very careful at all

Being he is former FBI, you'd think he would know that they would catch up with him eventually. Sure didn't know how to cover his tracks, he shouldn't be surprised he was arrested.

Really scary. How many more traitors are there in the FBI?

[Stuart G]

23. HE WAS SURE THAT HE WOULD..........'GET AWAY WITH IT' THAT IS WHY HE NEVER COVERED HIS TRACKS

[PatSeg]

37. Yeah, the hubris is stunning

Being he was FBI, you'd think he'd know better how not to get caught, but apparently the hubris turned off all the reason in his brain OR maybe he was never a very good FBI agent to begin with.

[calimary]

52. Bingo.

[Diraven]

73. He was counting on Trump to win in 2020

He had already purged the FBI of all the major players in the the original Russia investigation by 2018, and he campaigned in 2020 on purging the entire civil service of people who were disloyal to him.

[KS Toronado]

35. "How many more traitors are there in the FBI? "

How many are MAGAts? Or die-hard reQublicOns?

[PatSeg]

74. I'm beginning to think

it is probably more than I could have imagined. Pretty scary thought.

[Mike Nelson]

14. Well...

...it's about time!

[BadGimp]

15. Is there more "There" there?

It will be interesting to see.

[KPN]

25. You know it! The only real questions are whether Garland is and how effectively he's pursuing this.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. The FBI is broken.

[KPN]

26. Broaden that -- Homeland Security is broken.

[ananda]

30. And the Secret Service

...

[Sky Jewels]

41. And our entire "law enforcement" system.

And by law enforcement I mean imprisoning, beating, and shooting brown people while looking the other way for those who lack melanin.

[KPN]

45. Yeah, almost depressing the work we have ahead of us.

[Peregrine Took]

38. Didn't Marge just get assigned to that committee? She'l fix it up good!! lol n/t

[Stuart G]

76. ...Very Very Sad. Repeat & Quote Again..."The FBI is Broken"

This is a "HORRIFIC SCANDAL"

[bronxiteforever]

17. Hmmm Arrested at the airport. Bad last chapter.

Welcome to the blacklist Charlie

[bucolic_frolic]

21. There were those rumors surrounding Comey's Oct 2016 drama

That he was pressured by NY Field Office, perhaps through Rudy. This was all, as I remember, publicly discussed in interviews on MSNBC at the time. So here it is, in plain daylight. Was there a little sideline going on for profit?

[Justice]

44. McGonigal named to NY office counterintelligence in October of 2016

https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office

[RussBLib]

29. how many more?

Special agent in charge of counterintelligence! Working with the Russians!! Sounds like he took his counter seriously.

String him up, after you get him to confess.

[Peregrine Took]

33. His "Linked In" page. lol Drat -you have to sign in to view it but its pretty weird.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-charlie-mcgonigal-38b13b8

[C0RI0LANUS]

77. "Christ is Risen! Happy Easter to my Orthodox friends!"

An Irish Catholic retired FBI S/A in NYC has so many Orthodox friends! Mister Popular! Now S/A Jennifer B. (FBI Baltimore Field Office) and others on his Linked In page are under the electron microscope of justice.

[Marcuse]

36. Rudy had the New York FBI office working against Hillary in 2016

McGonigal sold us out for chicken change. Thought he had it all arranged.

[link:https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-watchdog-says-he-s-investigating-alleged-fbi-leaks-giuliani-n1100006|

] [/div
James Comey, based on public comments from top Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani and others in October 2016, launched an investigation into leaks about the Hillary Clinton email investigation that he suspected originated in the New York field office, he told congressional investigators Friday, but said he was fired from the FBI before it reached a conclusion.

Comey said Giuliani appeared to be making statements at the time “based on his knowledge of workings inside the FBI,” raising concerns to him “that we may have a leak problem,” according to a transcript of the former FBI director’s testimony released Saturday.
[link:https://oig.justice.gov/node/640|

[msfiddlestix]

62. Exactly.. Rudy-Pooty_Rudy

had his FBI agents" playing the role of lieutenants mobster style. in that fucking field office! They didn't think they needed to cover their tracks cuz Rudy et al would cover it for them. They trusted Rudy. And for the next several years that trust paid off well.

Problem is they were all so delusional with regard to how long their crime spree honeymoon would last.

I gotta say, it lasted a hell of a lot longer than it should have given the circumstances.

They've all been lucky except the few who are sort of the fall guys. the way I'm seeing it.

[orangecrush]

39. True Counterintelligence

Cutting off Putin's ears and eyes.

[imaginary girl]

40. Anybody remember the NYtimes article...

... In 2016 called "Investigating DT, FBI sees no clear links to Russia" published at the end of Oct 2016? Was this guy one of the anonymous sources?

[orangecrush]

42. Great observation

This is HUGE!!!

Next show to drop - Secret Service?

[H2O Man]

47. Recommended.

As others here have noted, and I've said on DU for years, there is a nest of active & retired FBI agents in NYC. They have long been connected to Trump and Rudy. In fact, they introduced them to each other.

[Lasher]

50. Here is a related DU thread from September 16 last year:

Charles McGonigal, Deep State Double Agent in FBI

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217163269

[Bernardo de La Paz]

56. Probably part of Ghouliani's traitors NY FBI cabal. . . .nt

[Jarqui]

57. "So Donald, tell us again that Russian interference in 2016 was a hoax ..."

I mean why should Russia bribe the FBI official examining the so-called hoax if there was nothing there to see?

[wiggs]

61. wow. money laundering while at FBI? Plus...I didn't know this former agent then WENT TO WORK

for the Russian oligarch.

Lots more potential there to understand the dark political influences of Russian and US crime families. Too much to hope that our DOJ and IC understand it a lot more than they let on and are pursuing justice?

[moniss]

64. A good bet that this was

the NY FBI guy who was feeding Ghouley-on-me inside info and also the guy who was making the noise right before the election about Hillary, Huma Abedin and the Anthony Weiner laptop. They made a big splash with Comey a week before the election. So much for not announcing things close to an election. Then less than a week after the election they made another big announcement saying that nothing was found that indicated any problems.

This guy should be looked at closely for any ties to Stone etc. There are likely many more like him in the FBI and SS.

[JHB]

69. While they may have been in cahoots, IIRC, Rudy didn't actually get anything

My recollection is that the NY office dawdled about verifying that all that was on Weiner's laptop was old back-ups from Abedin's PDA, which the FBI already had.

That wait gave the RW media all the space it wanted to speculate on what would be found, with Il Duce-ani egging it on by implying stuff was being leaked to him. That let the whole circus get all three rings going while the FBI agents merely slow-walked the investigation. Rudy could spin it was wildly as he wanted to, while the agents didn't do anything they could be called on the carpet for, like actually leaking.

And since mainstream political media was salivating for an actual Clinton scandal just as much as the wingnuts, they were a churning machine for "buttery males."

[moniss]

75. Good observation

and the street between them was obviously more than a one way. My guess was always that Rudy, from his years of "service" before, knew where some bodies were buried in the SDNY as well as Manhattan DA's office and the NY branch of the FBI. They all would have intermingled over the years. I'm curious though about whether the surrounding jurisdictions of the FBI were happy about the NY branch doing the politically obvious. Seems to me it drew a spotlight where maybe some didn't want it to go. So maybe giving up the recently retired guy was a way to spruce up the look of the place.

[FakeNoose]

65. Mitch McConnell has also had dealings with Deripaska - when does HE get arrested?

Also I hope the FBI investigators are looking into WTF this guy McGonigal was doing in Sri Lanka.

[world wide wally]

66. McGonigal...

Sounds like a bubble in a bathtub

[Martin68]

70. They guy who headed the investigation to Trump ties with Russia?

Gee, I wonder what the implications of that might be...

[Hassler]

72. And likely the inside source for Colludy Rudy's 2016 claims about

HRC.