Balkans Links of Former FBI's Arrested Agent

The charges against a former high-ranking agency of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), that he has violated sanctions working for the Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, come at a time when American authorities are increasing pressure against wealthy Russians due to Ukraine's invasion by the Russian military.

This case shows how Russian oligarchs can penetrate the heart of American security services, writes world media.

The Act against the former agent shows that he has had suspicious business ties with politicians from Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Work on Derippaca

Former high agent of FBI, Charles McGonigal, has been charged with violations of US sanctions and participation in money laundering, while working for Deripaska, who helped investigate a rival Russian oligarch, writes The Financial Times.

McGonigal, who served as a special intelligence agent at the FBI office in New York and investigated Deripaska while at the agency, was arrested on January 21st, the US Department of Justice announced on January 23rd.

Former FBI agent has been arrested with former Russian and Soviet diplomat Sergei Sesettakov, who has obtained American citizenship and worked as a court translator. According to prosecutors, in 2019 the two worked on lifting sanctions against Deripaska.

Against Derarpaca ʹ who has been enriched with elaborate metals in the United States have imposed sanctions for the first time in 2018 in response to the annexation of the Ukrainian Crime Peninsula from Russia in 2014.

Washington has taken sanctions and visa restrictions against several Russian businessmen following the invasion of Ukraine, aimed at punishing Moscow and limiting its financial ties to the rest of the world.

Deripaska is one of the few oligarchs that speaks against the invasion of Ukraine, calling it “crazy” and <x2) colossal error”, although it has avoided direct criticism against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His conflicts with the Kremlin for war have done little to improve his relations with Western governments, The Financial Times has written.

The U.S. Department of Justice said that McGongal, who retired from the FBI in 2018, after 22 years of work, agreed in 2021 that “investigates a rival Russian oligarch in exchange for secret payments from Derpaska”.

Prosecutors have said the former agent worked for the oligarch both through a legal company and directly, taking tens of thousands of dollars for his services.

In a case divided into Washington, McGonali is accused of accepting $225,000 in cash ready by a former Albanian intelligence official.

Ties With Albania

According to The Washington Post, charges against McGonigali have revealed the links of the former FBI agent to Balkan politicians.

In a separate case presented in Washington, prosecutors have said that, at least since August 2017, McGonigal has not revealed it. The FBI has his relationship with a former Albanian intelligence agency official described in the indictment as “Person A”.

Also, according to the indictment, he has not indicated that “has had contact” with Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama.

At the end of 2017, according to authorities, McGonigal received a total of $225,000 from “Person A” originally in a car parked outside a restaurant in New York and the next two times at that person's home in New Jersey. According to the indictment, McGonigal “said "Person A" that the money would be repaid”.

Several months later, with the encouragement of McGonigali, the FBI has opened investigations against an American lobbyist who has worked for an Albanian rival Rama political party. In that investigation, “Person A” has been identified as a source of information.

The former agent is expected to appear before the tribunal Wednesday on charges related to Albania.

Reactions in Albania

Albania's Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has said the charges against former FBI officials have nothing to do with it.

There's an FBI official on things that don't even have a connection with me... and in Albania the trial of me begins in the Big Brother of politics, portals! I'm used to it, but I've recently decided not to deal with the extraction of any stone that is dropped every day on the 148x1>, Rama said.

Sali Berisha, chairman of the Democratic Party (PD) the largest opposition in Albania, has asked the Special Prosecutor against Organised Crime and Corruption (SPAK) to investigate Rama's alleged links to the relationship. He has said the SPAK serves the ruling party unless it opens investigations into the case.

Democratic Party MP Gazmend White has said he has turned to SPAK on the issue.

U.S. Justice confirms that Edi Rama, through a former state security employee, has paid his friend McGonigal, a total of $225 thousand to make up the Russian-dollar PD lobby tale. SPAK doesn't have much to do with this criminal relationship. As long as he's looking for the file in the U.S. ”, he's written a Facebook bar.

Ties With Bosnia and Herzegovina

This, according to The Washington Post, is not the only case in which the charges suggest that McGonigal used his work to benefit people with whom he had no declared financial or personal relations.

On a trip to Austria in 2017, McGonigali and a U.S. Justice Department prosecutor have interviewed an Albanian businessman and politician who told McGonigali earlier that they want someone to investigate a death threat against them, the indictment said. McGonigal has been notified with that person from “..

A year later, McGonigal has allegedly asked the FBI's service for ties to the United Nations to organise a meeting with then-American Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, or another senior official, as well as with the former Bosnia Defence Minister and the founder of a pharmaceutical company in Bosnia, writes The Washington Post.

It's the current Bosnia Security Minister, Selmo Cikotic, and the late businessman from Gracanica in northwest Bosnia, Davud Zahirovic.

The indictment is said to have called for that meeting for political reasons, which would bring financial benefits for “Person A”. McGongal later, according to the indictment, proposed that the pharmaceutical company pay half a million dollars to a company registered at “Person A” as the fee for organising the meeting.

Focused on US Prosecution

A charge like that against her McGongal is a rare legal measure against such a former senior law enforcement official, writes The Wall Street Journal. According to her, the indictment comes at a time when the US Department of Justice is trying to step up efforts to investigate lawyers and others helping Russian oligarchs. This is done under the US administration's campaign of pressure on Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine.

According to the paper, Deripaska is in the focus of the American Prosecution, since he has long been suspected of links to Russian organised crime. For years it has reportedly spent large sums of money trying to improve its reputation in the West, as well as obtaining permission to enter the United States.

He has denied having anything to do with organised crime. In Washington, he has engaged expensive consultants, including the late US Senator Bob Dole, while earlier organised parties at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

However, his efforts have faced obstacles, writes The Wall Street Journal. Even though some FBI agents have tried to take it as a potential source, the US State Department has repeatedly refused to issue a visa.

oligarch fingers in American services

The rare and serious charges against a former senior FBI official who has monitored some of the agency's most secret and sensitive investigations show that Russian oligarchs can penetrate the heart of American law enforcement, writes The New York Times.

The arrest has shocked his former colleagues, the newspaper writes. According to her, they have shown that McGonigal's long career has largely involved investigation into Russian spying. He has also worked on very sensitive tasks, leading an FBI team that has investigated the arrest and murder in China of several US Central Intelligence Agency informants (CIA).

McGonigal has also participated in the investigation into Russian intervention in the US presidential elections in 2016.

In his recent years at the FBI, McGonial has led the FBI office's intelligence division in New York before withdrawing in September 2018.

In the same year, the U.S. Department of Finance for Foreign Asset Control has imposed sanctions against Deripaska.

The indictment says McGongal, while working for the FBI in 2018, is connected by Sestakkov, via email, to a person who worked for Deripaska.

Sestakov has also asked McGonigali to help the Russian spy's daughter gain apprenticeship at the New York Police Department, in the field of antiterrorism, intelligence collection or “international connection” respectively. According to the indictment, McGonigal has accepted this and requested assistance from a senior in the New York Police Department. / REL