One of the highest-ranking FBI agents to ever face criminal charges was sentenced to over four years in prison on Thursday for secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch.
One of the highest-ranking FBI agents to ever face criminal charges was sentenced to over four years in prison on Thursday for secretly colluding with a Russian oligarch.
Charles McGonigal, a former counterintelligence leader in the FBI's New York field office, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge. McGonigal's lawyers had asked for no prison time, but the judge came down harshly on the former FBI bigwig.
"I committed a felony and as a former FBI special agent it causes me extreme emotional and physical pain," McGonigal told the judge prior to the imposition of the sentence. "I stand before you today with a deep sense of remorse."
"I committed a felony and as a former FBI special agent it causes me extreme emotional and physical pain. I stand before you today with a deep sense of remorse."
What he did, shat on the carpet? 50 months and this half-assed apology don't seem like a punishment for a treason for a top official.
He served as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI's New York field office. In that position, McGonigal supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, to whom he provided impermissible services.
In 2016, McGonigal was named Section Chief of the Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section of the Counterintelligence Division. On October 4, 2016, it was announced that McGonigal was named "Special Agent in Charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office", appointed by James B. Comey.[3]
In March 2017, McGonigal expressed concern in a text message to then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division Jennifer Boone that the surveillance warrant application on Carter Page could leak to the public after being presented to the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.[7]
I'm guessing that's a Harry Potter thing? I'm afraid I never got into it. Probably why my association is with the Scottish so-called poet. Maybe Rowling made an intentional reference?