Former top FBI agent on Russia hoax case expected to plead guilty in oligarch scandal

 August 9, 2023

The disgraced former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York field office, who was actively involved in the agency's hoax 2016 investigation into former President Donald Trump, is in deep legal trouble.

According to Breitbart, Manhattan federal court filing outlines indicated that Charles McGonigal, the disgraced former agent, is scheduled for a "plea proceeding" next week in a case regarding illegal work he did for a Russian oligarch.

Breitbart noted:

The 54-year-old is accused by U.S. prosecutors of working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and the change in plea is related to criminal charges of evading U.S. sanctions and money laundering.

The former FBI boss, who now claims the title of being the highest-ranking FBI agent to ever be criminally charged, was a "top agency counterintelligence official in New York" during the 2016 hoax investigation into Trump.

Breitbart added:

Prosecutors in January said McGonigal, who retired in 2018, received concealed payments from Deripaska in exchange for investigating a rival oligarch and unsuccessfully pushed in 2019 to lift U.S. sanctions on Deripaska, as Breitbart News reported.

News of the disgraced agent's expected guilty plea generated plenty of feedback across social media, with many pointing to the irony of the situation.

'NEW: FBI agent Charles McGonigal who investigated Donald Trump for colluding with Russia, is set to plead guilty for colluding with Russia. Read that again. McGonigal, who was a key figure in the Trump-Russia hoax investigation, will be pleading guilty after being accused of illegally working for a Russian oligarch," Collin Rugg wrote on X.

He added, "The ex-FBI agent was indicted in January for money laundering and violating US sanctions by working on behalf of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. McGonigal also tried getting Deripaska off of the United States sanctions list. You can't make this up."

This isn't the only serious legal situation McGonigal faces, as he was recently charged in Washington, D.C. for allegedly concealing a $225,000 payment he received from an Albanian intelligence agent.

McGonigal's lawyer indicated that he doesn't believe that particular case will go to trial.

No additional details were available at the time of this writing regarding the upcoming plea hearing.

Breitbart noted that it could be rescheduled "if no plea change happens."

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