Written by via edition.cnn.com
Charles McGonigal, a 22-year veteran of the FBI, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to violate US sanctions and money laundering for working for Oleg Deripaska, a wealthy Russian with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Judge Jennifer Rearden sentenced McGonigal to 50 months in prison, just below the statutory maximum of five years. The judge ordered McGonigal to surrender to prison on February 26.
McGonigal, the judge said, “repeatedly flouted and manipulated the sanctions regimes vital” to US national security interests and “the undeniable seriousness of this and the need to respect the law … compels a meaningful custodial sentence.” At the same time, the judge said his actions “do not all together stamp out” his distinguished career and the “profoundly important contributions” he made to the US.
Before the sentencing was handed down, McGonigal told te judge he has a “deep sense of remorse and sorrow for my actions.”