WHY NOT FROM THE ISRAELI INTEL, OR BOTH?
Ex-FBI informant: Hunter Biden dirt came from Russian intel – Long Beach Press Telegram – https://t.co/W7tHPLELuZ— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) February 26, 2024
Day: February 26, 2024
Charles McGonigal, 55, supervised national security operations for the FBI in New York for nearly two years before his retirement in 2018. He appeared to advance Albanian interests in the U.S. after he asked for and received roughly $225,000 in 2017 from a man who had worked for an Albanian intelligence agency, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced McGonigal to two years and four months in prison for the case brought in Washington, D.C. She ordered him to serve it consecutively to a 50-month prison sentence for a separate case in New York, so he is facing a total of six years and six months when he reports to prison next month.
McGonigal expressed remorse and sorrow for what he called “mistakes,” saying he betrayed the confidence and trust of his loved ones.
“For the rest of my life, I will be fighting to regain that trust and become a better person,” he told Kollar-Kotelly before she imposed his sentence.
The judge told McGonigal that it appears he “lost his moral compass” at the end of a distinguished FBI career, when he held one of the highest national security positions in the federal government. She said his remorse seemed genuine.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t repair the damage,” she added.
Justice Department prosecutors had recommended sentencing McGonigal to a prison term of two years and six months for the Washington case alone.
“Abusing the public trust is particularly egregious when, as here, the motivation was pure greed and the defendant is a law enforcement officer charged with enforcing the very same laws he flagrantly violated.,” they wrote in a court filing.
In December, a federal judge in New York sentenced McGonigal to four years and two months in prison for conspiring to violate sanctions on Russia by going to work for a Russian oligarch whom he once investigated. The oligarch, billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska, was under U.S. sanctions for reasons related to Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
McGonigal was scheduled to report to prison next month to begin serving his sentence in the New York case. His lawyers urged the judge in Washington to refrain from imposing more prison time, arguing that he already has received a “just punishment” for his crimes.
“His fall from grace has been precipitous, having lost his job, his reputation and the peace of his family life, and he now faces the stark prospect of the 50-month sentence he is about to begin serving,” his defense attorneys wrote.
McGonigal was separately charged with concealing his ties to the former Albanian official, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was living in New Jersey. McGonigal has said that he borrowed the $225,000 to launch a security consulting business after he retired from the FBI. He didn’t repay the loan.
In 2017, McGonigal flew to Albania with his benefactor and met with a former Albanian energy minister and the country’s prime minister. McGonigle warned the prime minister to avoid awarding oil field drilling licenses in Albania to Russian front companies, according to prosecutors. They say McGonigal’s travel companion and the energy minister had financial stakes in the Albanian government’s decisions about the drilling licenses.
McGonigal pleaded guilty last September to concealing material facts, a charge punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years. He admitted that he failed to report the loan, his travel in Europe with the person who lent him the money or his contacts with foreign officials during the trips.
“He put his own greed above service to his country,” a prosecutor, Elizabeth Aloi, said Friday.
Defense attorney Seth Ducharme urged the judge to let McGonigal serve his two prison sentences simultaneously. McGonigal didn’t need more prison time beyond his 50-month sentence in New York “to serve the ends of justice,” Ducharme argued.
“He didn’t betray his country. He broke the law,” the attorney said.
The FBI had to review many other investigations to determine whether McGonigal compromised any of them during his tenure.
“The defendant worked on some of the most sensitive and significant matters handled by the FBI. His lack of credibility, as revealed by his conduct underlying his offense of conviction, could jeopardize them all,” prosecutors wrote.
McGonigal expressed remorse in a statement submitted to the court.
“I keep wishing this was all a bad dream I could simply wake up from,” he wrote.
By AMY TAXIN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former FBI informant charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family is set to appear in a California federal court on Monday as a judge considers whether he must remain behind bars while he awaits trial.
Special counsel David Weiss’ office is pressing U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II to keep Alexander Smirnov in jail, arguing the man who claims to have ties to Russian intelligence is likely to flee the country.
A different judge last week released Smirnov from jail on electronic GPS monitoring, but Wright ordered the man to be re-arrested after prosecutors asked to reconsider Smirnov’s detention. Wright said in a written order that Smirnov’s lawyers’ efforts to free him was “likely to facilitate his absconding from the United States.”
In an emergency petition with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Smirnov’s lawyers said Wright did not have the authority to order Smirnov to be re-arrested. The defense also criticized what it described as “biased and prejudicial statements” from Wright insinuating that Smirnov’s lawyers were acting improperly by advocating for his release.
Smirnov is charged with falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.
In urging the judge to keep Smirnov locked up, prosecutors said the man has reported to the FBI having contact with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials. Prosecutors wrote in court filings last week that Smirnov told investigators after his first arrest that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story to him about Hunter Biden.
Smirnov, who holds dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, is charged by the same Justice Department special counsel who has separately filed gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden.
Smirnov has not entered a plea to the charges, but his lawyers have said they look forward to defending him at trial. Defense attorneys have said in pushing for his release that he has no criminal history and has strong ties to the United States, including a longtime significant other who lives in Las Vegas.
In his ruling last week releasing Smirnov on GPS monitoring, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts in Las Vegas said he was concerned about his access to what prosecutors estimate is $6 million in funds, but noted that federal guidelines required him to fashion “the least restrictive conditions” ahead of his trial.
Smirnov had been an informant for more than a decade when he made the explosive allegations about the Bidens in June 2020, after “expressing bias” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, prosecutors said. Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017, according to court documents. No evidence has emerged that Joe Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous office as vice president.
While his identity wasn’t publicly known before the indictment, Smirnov’s claims have played a major part in the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. Republicans pursuing investigations of the Bidens demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they couldn’t confirm if they were true.
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Richer reported from Boston.
- Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens will appear in court as judge weighs his detention The Associated Press
- Judge ordered rearrest of FBI informant charged with Biden lies over fears he would flee NBC News
- Honig: Re-arresting FBI ex-informant highlights how ‘terrified’ prosecutors are CNN