The former chief of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York City office was arrested over the weekend on charges of money laundering and violating Russia sanctions, three top law enforcement officials told NBC News.

An FBI spokesman confirmed the arrest of Charles McGonigal, who was detained at New York’s JFK airport on Saturday after returning on a flight from the Middle East.

Prosecutors allege that McGonigal worked with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, Deripaska associate Sergey Shestakov and a third party to investigate a rival Russian oligarch in exchange for payments from Deripaska.

According to prosecutors, McGonigal, Shestakov and a third person attempted to conceal Deripaska’s involvement through shell companies, forged signatures and other means.

The activity allegedly occurred three years after McGonigal’s retirement from the FBI in 2018.

US Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Charles McGonigal, a former high-level FBI official, and Sergey Shestakov, a court interpreter, violated United States sanctions by agreeing to provide services to Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch. Russian sanctioned. They both previously worked with Deripaska to try to get the sanctions removed from him and as public servants they should have known better.»

FBI Deputy Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said: “The FBI is committed to the application of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against the hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors. Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska wield global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with bribery, extortion, and violence.»

The Treasury Department sanctioned Deripaska for «having acted or purported to act on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior official of the Government of the Russian Federation and for operating in the energy sector of the economy of the Russian Federation,» according to the Department. of Justice. .

McGonigal was named Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division in 2016, after serving as a section chief of the Cyber ​​Counterintelligence Coordination Section at FBI headquarters.

McGonigal joined the FBI in 1996 and was first assigned to the New York Field Office, where he worked on Russian foreign counterintelligence and organized crime.

During his tenure in New York, he worked on the investigation of TWA Flight 800, was assigned to the task force investigating scientist Wen Ho Lee, investigated the 1998 terrorist bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania, and Kenya, and investigated the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

McGonigal’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.