A former Russian diplomat who was charged with conspiring to evade sanctions by working for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska pleaded guilty to a lesser count of lying to FBI agents.
Sergei Shestakov, a naturalized US citizen, had previously pleaded innocent to multiple charges related to work he did for Deripaska, a Kremlin-connected billionaire who's been under US sanctions since 2018.
His trial was set to begin on June 17 in Manhattan federal court. Shestakov faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced sometime later this year.
On June 12, Shestakov told a judge he would plead guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI about his business dealings with Deripaska. In exchange, US prosecutors dropped other charges that included conspiring to commit money laundering.
Shestakov's defense lawyer, Rita Glavin, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking further comment. Shestakov could not be immediately located for comment.
The case against Shestakov drew less attention than the one against his alleged co-conspirator, Charles McGonigal. Until his retirement in 2018, McGonigal was one of the FBI's top counterintelligence agents investigating Russian spies and oligarchs.
McGonigal pleaded guilty to identical charges in 2023 and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged that they did work for, and received payment from, Deripaska, who was seeking to soften the sanctions that the US Treasury hit him with in 2018. Deripaska had also sought help in digging up dirt on another Russian oligarch whom he was feuding with.
Shestakov's defense had hinged in part on the question of whether the work he and McGonigal did was for the benefit of Deripaska himself or for his massive holding conglomerate, EN+ Group, which controls one of the world's largest aluminum companies, Rusal.
Shestakov's defense had planned to call Yevgeny Fokin, a top executive at EN+, to testify that the work was on behalf of EN+, lobbying to help advocate for the Deripaska companies, which is largely allowed under US law.
Court filings show the FBI believed Fokin was an agent with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, and they had searched his electronic devices and surveilled him when he traveled to New York City.
In late November 2021, FBI agents seized Shestakov's electronic devices, as well as those of McGonigal. Days prior, he was questioned about his relationship with Fokin and asked about whether he had ever done any business with him.
"No, no business," he told the FBI, according to court filings. Prosecutors said in fact he had spoken with Fokin shortly before the interview with FBI agents.
In addition to being business partners, Shestakov and McGonigal, along with another Russian man, are linked to another former Russian tycoon who for many years spent most of his time at a Connecticut mansion: Vladimir Gusinsky.
Gusinsky has not been implicated in the criminal case against the two men.
However, he has drawn the interest of the FBI, with agents twice questioning his now estranged wife and employees of the couple's Connecticut household about his relationship to Shestakov and McGonigal. Gusinsky was introduced to McGonigal by Shestakov and socialized with them both.
