A new hearing is set for Aug. 15โฆ
According to multiple reports, Charles McGonigal โ a former FBI agent who oversaw counterintelligence for the bureau's New York division during the Trump-Russia investigation โ may be prepared to plead guilty to Russian collusion.
Prosecutors adamantly maintain that McGonigal, 54, partnered with a Russian oligarch in a scheme to enrich himself involving money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions. While McGonigal pleaded not guilty, an order filed Monday by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rearden revealed the court scheduled a change of plea hearing for Tuesday, Aug. 15.
As Fox News reports:
The former FBI official previously pleaded not guilty to conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, money laundering, conspiring to commit money laundering and conspiring to violate federal law against doing business with sanctioned individuals in connection with his work forย sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Prosecutors arrested McGonigal in January for allegedly receiving concealed payments from Deripaska, the founder of Russian aluminum company Rusal, in exchange for investigating a rival oligarch and unsuccessfully pushing to lift U.S. sanctions on Deripaska in 2019. He has been free on a $500,000 bond since his arrest.
McGonigal was legally required to report his contact with foreign officials to the agency, but allegedly hid the ties and instead pursued business and overseas travel conflicting with his work.
The charges against McGonigal came as U.S. prosecutors increased efforts to enforce sanctions on Russian officials and monitor their alleged enablers because of Moscow's war against Ukraine.
Officials in Washington blacklisted Deripaska in 2018 over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
McGonigal retired in 2018. He partook in the yearslong investigation into former President Donald Trump's purported relationship with the Russian government, Operation Crossfire Hurricane. The operation began with concerns over speculative opposition research during the 2016 presidential campaign by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele which was eventually purchased by Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Prosecutors have also indicted McGonigal in a case involving allegedly illegal dealings in Albania, including accepting at least $225,000 from a former Albanian intelligence official.
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5 Comments
Our whole government is corrupt, it probably also involves the custodians who depose of the trash at the end of the work day.
So government prosecutors have done there job of getting this “little fish” for doing pretty much the same things that Joe Biden and his evil spawn did but can’t seem to make a case to arrest and prsecuteeither on of the more corrupt Biden’s. ONLY IN AMERICA, THE LAND OF MULTIPLE LEVELS OF JUSTICE !!
Whole FBI is corrupt since the Hoover era to date
FBI needs to reorganize. Start by firing the top traitorous dogs.
Mark my words, this guy will get a Hunter Biden sweetheart deal, with probation and his full pension! Meanwhile the criminals and the corrupted courts are trying to make up charges to put Trump in jail for the rest of his life! Because he cared to much for the middle-class citizens. I pray that God is keeping count of their evil deeds!