A recently published report from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has stirred controversy in Washington by revealing how a former senior FBI counterintelligence official may have undermined a significant investigation with possible political consequences. The report accuses Charles McGonigal, once among the FBI’s most trusted agents, of alerting contacts linked to the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) — a major Chinese energy conglomerate with known connections to members of the Biden family.
The events in question date back to June 2017. According to investigators, McGonigal allegedly warned an Albanian associate, referred to as “Person B,” that the FBI was planning arrests tied to CEFC’s operations. This information reportedly spread rapidly through a network of intermediaries. Person B passed the tip to Patrick Ho, CEFC’s top executive, as well as to Chairman Ye Jianming, the billionaire who headed the company. Ye then reportedly cautioned another key individual involved in the probe, identified only as “Target 3.”
Despite the leak, Patrick Ho was arrested upon his arrival in the United States later that year. Federal prosecutors charged him with bribery and money laundering in a widely publicized case. Notably, the OIG report claims that Ho’s trip to the U.S. was made after encouragement from James Biden — the brother of then–Vice President Joe Biden.