Article is behind a paywall. I'm unclear if he was caught, so to speak, or is simply being charged for openly engaging in illegal activity. He was working to get a Russian Oligarch taken off the sanctions list, right? I suppose he could have been doing that through intermediaries or behind the scenes but seems like he might have needed to put himself out there to get that accomplished?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/23/mcgonigal-deripaska-indictment-fbi/

"One of the top FBI's Russian spy catcher is indicted: The charges against McGonigal alarmed his former colleagues in part because of his depth of knowledge of so many elements of U.S. espionage. McGonigal was an expert on Russian intelligence activities targeting the United States, as well as U.S. efforts to recruit Russian spies, said several former intelligence officials who worked with him and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive matters.

McGonigal has not been charged with espionage, but the former officials who worked with him said his knowledge and experience would have put him at high risk of being recruited by a foreign government.

One former official noted that McGonigal was in charge of an investigation into why numerous individuals in China who were spying for the United States were arrested and taken out of commission. As part of that investigation, McGonigal would have known details about the covert systems that the CIA used to communicate with its agents, the former official said. Those systems are believed to have played a central role in exposing the agents to government authorities."

Not sure what distinction you're trying to make here.

All usual caveats about being accused does not mean convicted/proved to have engaged in wrongdoing.

But whether caught or "openly engaged in wrongdoing" - what's the practical difference? Are you saying some things are known to be technically wrong, but everyone looks at it with a wink and lets it go?

This doesn't seem to be that. Sounds like high ranking FBI official received hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to improve an oligarch's situation in re: official US government position on said oligarch. There was an intermediary - oligarch hired pricey law firm, paid law firm a hefty monthly retainer, and a portion of that retainer was sent to FBI employee for his "consulting services" to the law firm.

One layer of obfuscation, which is supporting evidence that FBI official knew it was wrong but didn't want to get caught. But not particularly hard to discern what was going on - again, assuming allegations are true.