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| Vladislav Doronin and a girl on his left sitting in the table of a restaurant in Switzerland (archive) |
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska is not the only Russian with whom former FBI agent Charles McGonigal has collaborated. In the spring of 2022, he turns out to have been hired by another Russian businessman, Vladislav Doronin, owner of a chain of 5-star hotels around the world.
McGonigal would lead the security department for the 34 Aman Resort hotels owned by the Russian businessman, based on his previous experience in the real estate industry, after he was hired as a senior vice president after retiring in 2018 for global security at real estate giant Brookfield Properties.
The former FBI agent left this post to join the "Aman Resort" company in 2022, writes the American newspaper "The Post".
McGonigal's ties to Doron are sure to raise more questions about his ties to Russia, experts say, Euronews Albania reports.
"With Doron, it is not the same as with Deripaska, who is under US sanctions. But the fact that McGonigal was on the payroll of a very powerful Russian businessman makes him more connected to the Russian elite around the world," said Louise Shelley, founder and executive director of the Center on Terrorism.
Vladislav Doronin was born in the Soviet Union, but renounced his Russian citizenship in 1986, and now holds 2 citizenships in Switzerland and Sweden, and has taken strong positions against the war in Ukraine.
He has stated that he ended his business ties in Russia in 2014, but last year, RealDeal reported that court documents proved that Doronin held shares in a Moscow-based company until 2022, when he transferred ownership to his mother, who still lives in Russia.