Separate investigations focus on ex-FBI special agent’s Russian and Albanian ties
January 25, 2023 1 Comment
AUTHORITIES IN THE UNITED States have launched at least two separate investigations into the business dealings of Charles McGonigal, the highest-ranking former employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to face criminal charges in recent times. Much has been written about McGonigal’s alleged connection with Kremlin-linked Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. On the contrary, relatively little is known about his purported dealings with Albanian and other Balkan officials and middlemen, some of whom appear to have intelligence links. There is also the question of whether the criminal charges against McGonigal and his alleged co-conspirator, former Soviet and Russian diplomat Sergey Shestakov, are strictly financial in nature, or may eventually expand to include an espionage angle.
McGonigal, 54, retired in 2018 after a 22-year career at the FBI, during which he served as head of counterintelligence in New York, home of one of the Bureau’s largest field offices. He was arrested on Saturday in New York, upon returning to the United States from a trip to Sri Lanka. He faces charges of conspiring with Shestakov, a naturalized US citizen, to provide under-the-table services to Deripaska. The latter is among a long list of Kremlin-linked oligarchs, who have been subject to strict US sanctions since 2018. In working for Deripaska, McGonigal is accused in the state of New York of violating US government sanctions and engaging in money laundering, among five other charges.
However, the former FBI special agent is facing nine more charges in Washington, which involve illicit activities that he allegedly engaged in while still serving in the FBI. This is in contrast with his business relationship with Deripaska, which he is believed to have entered after his retirement from the Bureau. According to the indictment, McGonigal received in excess of $225,000 from an Albanian-born American businessman, who is also a former employee of Albanian intelligence. In return, McGonigal allegedly helped promote the businessman’s interests in the US and abroad. Throughout that time, McGonigal reportedly failed to disclose his alleged financial links with the businessman, as is required of all FBI employees. Read more of this post
Sensitive information about the identities and activities of Albania’s intelligence operatives appeared online, apparently due to an administrative blunder. The incident has reportedly alarmed officials at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which Albania has been a member since 2009. British newspaper The Independent, which reported the incident earlier this month, described it as “a dangerous breach that could have international consequences”. The paper 
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Albanian court releases Russian and Ukrainian bloggers suspected of espionage
May 29, 2023 by Joseph Fitsanakis 3 Comments
Albanian authorities said the three foreigners had been arrested while attempting to enter the Gramsh military installation, a defunct small-arms factory, which is located 50 miles south of the Albanian capital Tirana. During the Cold War, the Gramsh factory specialized in producing Soviet-designed AK-47 assault rifles. After the collapse of Albania’s communist system in the early 1990s, the factory was turned into a storage facility and was subsequently used to deactivate and decommission expired munitions.
Following their arrest, the three foreign nationals said they were “urban explorers” who engaged in “industrial tourism”, a type of travel that centers on entering and photographing dilapidated industrial facilities around the world. Soon after her arrest was announced, the United States government-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE) confirmed that Timofeeva, was indeed “one of Russia’s most famous urban explorers”. According to RFE, Timofeeva, 34, was known under the nom de guerre “Lana Sator” and maintained an Instagram page that was followed by over 250,000 users.
The plot thickened in March of this year, when Timofeeva, while still in detention, applied for political asylum in Albania. It emerged that Timofeeva was wanted by the Russian government on charges of “illegally obtaining information constituting a state secret”. In February of this year, the Ministry of Justice of Albania approved a request by Moscow to extradite Timofeeva to Russia, in order to face espionage charges. However, this decision was later overturned by an Albanian judge, a development that reportedly angered Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Timofeeva’s lawyers argued that she had openly opposed the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and had voiced public criticism of President Putin. As a result, Timofeeva had left Russia and had been living in exile in Georgia at the time of her arrest. Some observers, however, suspected that at least one of those arrested had links to Russian intelligence. It was reported that Zorin had admitted being an informant for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). However, the precise conditions under which Zorin’s alleged admission was made are not known.
In a statement released to the media last week, Albania’s Elbasan Trial Court said that, even though Timofeeva, Zorin and Alpatov would be released from detention, the investigation against them on suspicion of espionage would continue for the time being.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 29 May 2023 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Albania, espionage, extraditions, Fedir Alpatov, Gramsh (Albania), industrial tourism, Mikhail Zorin, Russia, Svetlana Timofeeva, Ukraine, urban exploration