A former Russian diplomat linked to a sanctions-evasion scandal involving one of many FBI’s prime former counter-intelligence brokers and a infamous Russian oligarch was set to be sentenced on costs of mendacity to U.S. regulation enforcement.
Sergei Shestakov’s sentencing, scheduled for October 16 in Manhattan federal court docket, closes a chapter in a case that each embarrassed the FBI and in addition shone a brand new highlight on Oleg Deripaska, a Kremlin-connected billionaire who has lengthy been on the FBI’s radar display.
In ultimate court docket filings, US prosecutors argued that Shestakov, 71, who labored as a licensed federal court docket interpreter after gaining US citizenship in 2013, was conscious it was against the law to mislead FBI brokers investigating retired FBI agent Charles McGonigal.
At the time of retirement in 2018, McGonigal was a prime particular agent on the FBI’s New York places of work, overseeing counterintelligence investigations of Russian spies and oligarchs, amongst different issues.
Prosecutors have requested for a comparatively lenient sentence of six months in jail, plus a $5,000 high-quality.
Shestakov’s protection lawyer, in the meantime, requested that he being sentenced to time served: basically, the transient time spent in federal custody in 2023 earlier than being launched on bail.
“His sense of worry, suspicion of the brokers, and misplaced sense of loyalty overtook doing the best factor and being utterly sincere,” Rita Galvin wrote. “He will even be without end tied to a corrupt FBI Agent Charles McGonigal and he’ll reside underneath a cloud of suspicion that he was a Russian spy (he was not) and a traitor.”
Glavin didn’t reply to emails looking for additional remark.
An e-mail despatched to the Manhattan federal prosecutors’ workplace dealing with the case acquired an automatic response, saying public affairs operations had been suspended as a result of US authorities shutdown.
At the middle of the case are conversations that Shestakov had with Yevgeny Fokin, a Russian man and former diplomat whom he referred to as an outdated pal from a long time again.
Fokin, a prime govt with Deripaska’s important holding firm En+, was put underneath FBI surveillance starting in July 2019, based on court docket data, and his digital units seized and searched as he entered the United States in August 2021.
His U.S. visa was revoked the next yr on the behest of the FBI, which mentioned he was affiliated with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
In court docket papers, US prosecutors have additionally alleged Fokin was an “unindicted co-conspirator” to Shestakov and McGonigal.
Deripaska, who had his personal visa blocked by the FBI within the 2000s, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April 2018 for his ties to the Kremlin; He was indicted three years later in 2022 for allegedly plotting to rearrange for his pregnant girlfriend to provide start within the United States so the kid could be US citizen.
According to court docket filings, McGonigal was launched to Fokin by Shestakov. McGonigal later went on to research one other Russian oligarch who was a rival and competitor of Deripaska, in addition to obtain funds by way of a Cyprus firm.
During the trial, protection attorneys claimed the work had been executed on behalf of En+, not Deripaska, and cited testimony from Fokin. McGonigal additionally secured an internship for Fokin’s daughter on the New York Police Department.
At a November 21, 2021, assembly with FBI brokers, Shestakov downplayed his relationship and McGonigal’s relationship with Fokin. Agents then seized his cellphone.
Every week later, Shestakov filed as a international agent underneath the Foreign Agents Registration Act, disclosing his work for Fokin and En+.
In January 2023, Shestakov was arrested at his Connecticut house, charged with 5 counts together with mendacity about his relationship with Fokin, each to the FBI brokers in addition to on the Foreign Agents Act registration. This previous June, after the Justice Department dropped 4 of the counts towards him, he pleaded responsible.
Among these submitting letters to the court docket on behalf of Shestakov was Vladimir Gusinsky, a former Russian oligarch who employed each him and Fokin for years at his media firm, Media Most.
Gusinsky, who additionally lived in Connecticut, has himself drawn scrutiny from the FBI, who’ve questioned him about his relationship with each males, in addition to Deripaska. Gusinsky has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
McGonigal was sentenced to greater than years in jail in December 2023 after pleading responsible after pleading responsible to cash laundering and sanctions evasion costs.
McGonigal was additionally underneath scrutiny for his work for an Albanian-American businessman named Agron Nezaj. In February 2024, McGonigal was sentenced to greater than two years in jail for receiving a $225,000 bribe.
