Charles McGonigal, once the respected head of counterintelligence for the FBI in New York, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and laundering payments from a Russian oligarch. McGonigal, 55, is now staring down up to five years in prison. As part of a plea deal, the feds downgraded their initial charge—that McGonigal actually violated U.S. sanctions—to a conspiracy charge. Had McGonigal gone to trial and been convicted on the initial charge, he could have been sentenced to up to 20 years behind bars. In court on Tuesday, McGonigal conceded that he knew his actions—to collect “open source” negative information about a rival for the sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska—were wrong and he’s “deeply remorseful,” The New York Times reported. “My actions were never intended to hurt the United States, the FBI or my family and friends,” he said. McGonigal still faces separate federal charges.
