Ex-FBI official sentenced to 2 years for hiding payment

A former FBI official received a 28-month prison sentence for hiding a $225,000 loan from an Albanian individual meant to start a security consulting business after retirement, which he never repaid

A former senior FBI official in charge of counterintelligence was handed a 28-month prison sentence Friday for concealing over $225,000 in a loan from an Albanian individual to kickstart a security consulting business post-retirement, but he never repaid it.  

Last year, he confessed to failing to disclose the loan, his overseas trips and his interactions with other Albanian officials.

Prosecutors pushed for a 30-month prison term in the Washington D.C. case, stating in a recent court document that “the defendant went to great lengths to exploit public trust, conceal his actions and enrich himself, repeatedly.”  

They emphasized the severity of abusing the public trust, mainly when driven by pure greed, especially when the offender is a law enforcement official tasked with upholding the laws he blatantly broke.  

In a separate case in New York last December, McGonigal was also sentenced to 50 months in prison for conspiring to breach sanctions on Russia and launder money to a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, whom he had previously investigated.

Deripaska, linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned because of matters concerning Russia’s annexation of Crimea. 

Source: Newsroom