BIS denies export privileges to ex-FBI officer, NY attorney who worked for Russian oligarchs
The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (‘BIS’) has revoked export privileges for four people, including a former FBI counterintelligence officer convicted of violating sanctions by working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch and a New York attorney who had pleaded guilty to money laundering for another billionaire from Russia.
Charles McGonigal, who pleaded guilty in August last year of providing services to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska while he worked for the FBI, lost his export privileges for ten years. On 14 December 2023, he was convicted by a New York court ‘of conspiring to violate US sanctions against Russia by going to work for a Russian oligarch whom he once investigated.’
BIS denials of export privileges begin from the date of conviction and apply to persons convicted of certain smuggling and other offences.
Manhattan lawyer Robert Wise lost his privileges for five years from the date of conviction by a court in New York, which on 4 December 2023 convicted him of conspiring to commit international money laundering. He had pleaded guilty to using international wire transfers to conduct US dollar transactions for the benefit of sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.
The Bureau revoked export privileges for seven years from Melanie Ann Espinoza, who on 26 August 2021 was convicted by an Arizona court of ‘smuggling approximately 7,000 rounds of Wolf 7.62 x 39 caliber ammunition, 1,500 rounds of Wolf .223 caliber ammunition, 2,000 rounds of Wolf 9 mm caliber ammunition and 50 rounds of Magtech Super .38 ammunition.’
Ruben Arnulfo Chavarin also lost his rights to export for seven years for a 9 April 2021 conviction, handed down by an Arizona court for smuggling ammunition from the United States to Mexico.
