"Admitted to hiding payments received from ex-Albanian agent"/ NYT: McGonigal designed an FBI investigation into a rival of Prime Minister Edi Rama

A former FBI director, spy hunter pleaded guilty Friday in Federal District Court in Washington to concealing payments he received from an Albanian-born businessman — a former intelligence agent who had helped him in business dealings abroad. the state.

The official, Charles F. McGonigal, the FBI's former director of counterintelligence in New York, had been the highest-ranking bureau official to be charged with corruption in recent years.

His plea marked the second time in as many months that Mr. McGonigal admitted criminal wrongdoing. On August 15, he pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to conspiracy to violate US sanctions and to launder payments from a prominent Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska.

He pleaded guilty to a single count of concealing from the FBI payments he received from Agron Neza, a former Albanian intelligence officer who had relocated to New Jersey. As in the New York case, the plea agreement between Mr. McGonigal and prosecutors in Washington resulted in reduced charges.

Washington prosecutors agreed to drop eight of the nine charges originally filed against him at the time of his sentencing, most of which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. But under the agreement revealed Friday, Mr. McGonigal was required to admit that he had in fact committed the broader acts he was accused of, even those to which he pleaded not guilty.

In court Friday, Mr. McGonigal told Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that before he left the FBI. in 2018, he had begun planning the launch of a security consulting company that would leverage the contacts he had made at the bureau after his retirement. He said he knew he should have disclosed the payments he received and meetings he held to plan the company, but he didn't for fear of raising questions with the FBI that could interfere with his future venture.

The maximum sentence of Mr. McGonigal under each of his plea deals is five years in prison; judges in both cases could sentence him to less time and order them to be served concurrently.

Zyrtarët e FBI thanë se nuk gjetën prova që z. McGonigal të kishte dhënë informacion tek zyrtarët e huaj ose të kishte komprometuar aktivitetet e byrosë ose sigurinë kombëtare.

Z. McGonigal, 55 vjeç, ishte paditur në Nju Jork dhe Uashington në janar. Çështja e Uashingtonit lidhej kryesisht me ndërveprimet e zotit McGonigal me interesat e huaja. Sipas prokurorëve, ai kishte dështuar të zbulonte me të vërtetë, siç kërkohej me ligj, detajet e udhëtimit të tij jashtë vendit dhe takimet e tij me zyrtarë të huaj qeveritarë dhe njerëz të biznesit. Akuzat penale lidhur me falsifikimin ose mosdhënien e informacioneve rreth udhëtimit dhe kontakteve të tij do të hiqen në momentin e dhënies së dënimit.

Z. McGonigal pranoi se kishte pranuar 225,000 dollarë këste cash nga zoti Neza dhe se kishte udhëtuar në Shqipëri me të dhe kishte ndihmuar në drejtimin e një licence për shpime nafte për një kompani të lidhur me zotin Neza. Z. McGonigal i kërkoi paratë si hua nga z. Neza, ndërsa diskutuan një sipërmarrje të mundshme biznesi, duke përfshirë formimin e kompanisë konsulente, së cilës ai iu referua në gjykatë të premten, por nuk kishte kushte për kredinë dhe nuk u pagua kurrë sipas përshkrimit të sjelljes së tij të paraqitur në marrëveshjen për pranimin e fajësisë.

Mr. McGonigal also admitted to other elements of the indictment:
He used his position to try to generate a $500,000 payment to Mr. Neza from an Eastern European pharmaceutical company. And he engineered an FBI investigation into an American lobbyist working for a political rival of the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, with whom Mr. McGonigal had struck up a friendship. The investigation did not result in charges.

The judge set Mr. McGonigal's sentencing in the Washington case for February 16, 2024. He will be sentenced in New York on December 14.