A disgraced former FBI official tipped off an employee of a Chinese group that did business with the Biden family about planned arrests related to a criminal investigation, compromising the integrity of the probe, according to a Justice Department watchdog.
Charles McGonigal, who helmed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison in 2023 for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions — but his leaks about the bureau’s investigation into China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), its top executive Patrick Ho and affiliated companies, were only made public Thursday by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.
While overseeing the FBI probe into CEFC, McGonigal met with an Albanian official working for CEFC in June 2017 and told them “something to the effect of ‘we are looking into them’ or ‘we are going after them,’” the Albanian official, only identified as “Person B,” told the FBI in a 2022 proffer interview.
“Person B said that he understood ‘we’ to be the FBI and ‘them’ to be CEFC China or CEFC NGO,” the inspector general report noted.
At the time, knowledge of the probe was “limited to a small number of government personnel.”
Person B traveled to Washington, DC, the day after his meeting with McGonigal and notified Ho about what he had gleaned from the FBI mole.
He warned Ho that he believed the bureau had plans to arrest him and potentially others involved with CEFC.
Person B later shared the leaked intel with CEFC China Chairman Ye Jianming, who warned another FBI target — identified as “Target 3” in the report — about the potential of imminent arrests.
In November 2017, Person B contacted McGonigal after receiving an invitation from Ho to attend a CEFC-sponsored event in New York.
Person B was not in the US at the time and appeared to be wrestling with the idea of attending the event, given the FBI probe into CEFC.
“Stay in Albania,” McGonigal advised Person B, according to the report.
The FBI official also said something to the effect of “we are ready for them” or “ready for action,” Person B said in the proffer interview.
Person B claims he did not pass along this tip to anyone at CEFC, and Ho attended the event and was arrested on bribery and money laundering charges when he arrived in the US from China.
Documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee indicate that former first son Hunter Biden referred to Ho, the vice-chairman of CEFC, as his client and the “f–king spy chief of China,”
Ho agreed to pay Hunter a $1 million retainer for “Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer,” according to the documents.
In other correspondence between Hunter and CEFC, he said that any deals struck would be “interesting for me and my family.”
Hunter and his uncle James Biden raked in $4.8 million from CEFC’s affiliate company, CEFC China Energy, in 2017 and 2018.
As the FBI investigated the leaks, it was concluded that Ho “decided to attend the CEFC event after James Biden or another individual likely told Ho, relying on information provided by a private investigator, that it was safe for Ho to return to the United States.”
The inspector general report notes that the FBI interviewed a retired US Secret Service agent working as a private investigator who told the bureau that James Biden reached out to him in November 2017 with a request to determine whether there was an arrest warrant for Ho.
“Re new case I need ASAP—I’m in Hong Kong,” read the subject line on James Biden’s email to the retired agent.
“Have info on an individual I need a background on one specific issue. Very timely. Thanks Jim [phone number]. Please call,” the message read.
On a phone call, James Biden told the former Secret Service agent turned PI that “we have information from China that Ho may be arrested” and that Ho wanted to travel to the United States but was concerned about a potential warrant for his arrest.
The PI, working with another retired Secret Service agent, looked into the tip but could not locate an active warrant for Ho’s arrest or three other individuals James Biden inquired about. The PI, however, warned James Biden that arrest warrants are “sensitive” and do not always appear in the databases he and his partner searched.
The report does not accuse James Biden of wrongdoing and does not mention Hunter Biden.
James Biden told Congress during testimony in February 2024 that he did not plan to inform Ho about what he had learned from the private investigators.
“Absolutely not,” the former president’s brother insisted.
“I just wanted to know, you know, if there was any issue with Patrick Ho. Not to inform or anything else. Just for my own edification,” James Biden added.
“McGonigal’s actions, while he served as a high-ranking FBI official entrusted with overseeing sensitive counterintelligence and criminal matters, were extraordinary and dishonored the FBI’s core values of integrity, accountability, and leadership expected of all FBI personnel,” the inspector general report said of disgraced agent’s actions.
“Through his scheme, McGonigal intentionally damaged an important criminal case, violated the public trust, and compromised the integrity of the FBI,” the report concluded.
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