A former top FBI counterintelligence official has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for hiding over $225,000 he received from an Albanian businessman linked to the Albanian government. Charles McGonigal, who once oversaw counterintelligence and national security operations, admitted to concealing his relationship with the businessman from the FBI. He traveled with the businessman and engaged with Albanian officials for personal business reasons.
Before his sentencing, McGonigal expressed remorse to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, stating, “For the rest of my life, I will be fighting to regain that trust and become a better person.” However, Kollar-Kotelly remarked that while his remorse seemed genuine, it couldn’t undo the damage, suggesting that McGonigal seemed to have “lost his moral compass” towards the end of his career.
McGonigal claimed that the $225,000 he received from the Albanian businessman was a loan to establish a security consulting business after his retirement. However, he never repaid the loan. He pleaded guilty last year, acknowledging that he failed to disclose the loan, his overseas travels, or his interactions with other Albanian officials.
Prosecutors, seeking a 30-month prison term, emphasized in a court filing last month that McGonigal went to great lengths to abuse public trust, conceal his actions, and enrich himself. They described his actions as particularly egregious, considering his role as a law enforcement officer tasked with upholding the very laws he violated out of pure greed.
In a separate case in New York last December, McGonigal was sentenced to 50 months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to violate sanctions on Russia and launder money for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom he had previously investigated. Deripaska, with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was under sanctions related to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.