Ex-FBI agent And Former SAC ‘of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in the New York field office’ ‘charged with aiding Russian oligarch walks free on $500K bond: Prosecutors say he also took $225k in bribes from Albanian spy and had secret meeting with country’s PM’ 

Ex-FBI agent charged with aiding Russian oligarch walks free on $500K bond: Prosecutors say he also took $225k in bribes from Albanian spy and had secret meeting with country’s PM 

Charles McGonigal, 54, walked free from Manhattan federal court on Monday on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond, following his arrest Saturday on charges in two indictments.

One of the indictments, filed in Manhattan, accused McGonigal of violating US sanctions laws by working for Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire crony of Vladimir Putin, following his 2018 retirement from the FBI.

The other charges, filed in Washington DC, allege McGonigal took $225,000 in cash bribes from an unnamed former Albanian intelligence agent while leading the counterintelligence branch in the FBI’s New York field office.

McGonigal, who retired in 2018, played a role in sensitive and high-profile investigations, including Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s purported ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. 

McGonigal was freed on a signature bond, meaning the money did not actually have to be posted up front, which was signed by himself and two other unidentified people.