NEW YORK, NY – Charles F. McGonigal, the retired Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for concealing a $225,000 cash payment he received from an individual with connections to the Albanian government. This revelation comes amid McGonigal’s oversight of sensitive counterintelligence investigations during his tenure.
The sentence was delivered by U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who also imposed a three-year supervised release period following McGonigal’s prison term. His guilty plea to one count of concealing material facts was entered on September 22, 2023. The court highlighted the significant impact of McGonigal’s actions on the administration of justice.
Documents filed in court detail that McGonigal, while serving as the FBI’s New York Field Office from August 2017 until his retirement in September 2018, failed to disclose his financial dealings and interactions with a foreign security officer and businessperson.
These undisclosed activities included receiving substantial cash payments and engaging in international travel to further private business interests with the individual, who had ongoing business ventures in various countries and with foreign governments.
McGonigal was arrested on January 21, 2023, and faced indictments in both the District of Columbia and the Southern District of New York. In a separate case prosecuted in the Southern District of New York, McGonigal was sentenced in December 2023 to 50 months in prison and fined $40,000 for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and to commit money laundering.