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Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty to laundering money for Russian oligarch

Washington, Aug 15 (EFE).- A former FBI agent in New York pleaded guilty Tuesday to having laundered money for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, subject to sanctions from the United States Treasury Department.

Charles McGonigal had been tasked with investigating Russian oligarchs for the FBI, and agreed to gather information on a rival of Deripaska’s in 2021 in exchange for illicit payments, using shell companies to send and receive the money, the US justice department said.

He faces one count of conspiring to violate US sanctions law and one count of conspiring to engage in money laundering, both punishable with up to five years in prison.

“Today’s plea shows the Department of Justice’s resolve to pursue and dismantle the illegal networks that Russian oligarchs use to try to escape the reach of our sanctions and evade our laws,” Deputy Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Division of Security said.

Deripaska was sanctioned by the treasury department in 2018 as part of the US response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

He was also included in the list of seven oligarchs who were sanctioned by the United Kingdom in March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with names like Roman Abramovich or Andrei Kostin, all linked to the Kremlin. EFE

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