The prestigious American media, the New York Times, has dedicated a long article to former FBI official Charles McGonigal and his connections with Prime Minister Edi Rama. 

In the New York Times article, it is emphasized that McGonigal developed a relationship with Prime Minister Rama and that it is suspected that he took steps in favour of the Albanian politician. 

"While he was still at the FBI, he developed a relationship with Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama and took steps in favour of the politician, according to prosecutors in Washington," the article underlines. 

Then the New York Times makes a chronological order of events and meetings between McGonigal, Agron Neza, Dorian Ducka and Prime Minister Rama. 

McGonigal's willingness to meet with the head of government in Albania, a country that has a US diplomatic presence, suggests he was not keeping his involvement there a secret from colleagues, former officials said. He also used his FBI email address and phone number for matters related to Albania, a person with knowledge of the investigation said. 

But whatever official pretext McGonigal might have had for those trips and associations could also have served as a cover for more questionable activities, others said. 

The fact that the alleged crimes occurred shortly before his retirement suggests that McGonigal may have begun or increased his illegal activities after taking the final polygraph tests, which are supposed to be administered every five years. 

Triplett said the $225,000 defrauding of the agency by someone of McGonigal's standing, if proven, would be surprising given that former officials can earn substantial amounts as consultants after retirement in addition to hefty pensions, it is said in the article.

-Part of the article that talks about the involvement of Prime Minister Rama: 

In August 2017, prosecutors said, he met with Agron Neza, the New Jersey businessman described in the Washington indictment as Person A. Other than Deripaska, the individuals named in McGonigal's indictments were not named. 

The New York Times identified them through public records and interviews with people familiar with the case. 

Agron Neza, 59, was born in Albania and was employed by an intelligence agency there decades ago. He later moved to the United States, settled in northern New Jersey and became an American citizen. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing. 

At the August 2017 meeting, McGonigal asked Neza for money, prosecutors said. They did not provide details about how Neza and McGonigal met, their relationship, and did not disclose the reason for the request. But the New York indictment names Neza as McGonigal's friend. In the months after McGonigal asked for money, they took multiple trips to Europe, where McGonigal apparently used his position to try to generate business for Neza, prosecutors in the Washington lawsuit suggested. 

In September 2017, they traveled to Albania, prosecutors said, where Neza introduced McGonigal to Dorian Ducka, a former Albanian official who served as an informal adviser to Prime Minister Rama. Ducka, described in the Washington indictment as Person B, brought McGonigal to meet Prime Minister Rama. 

McGonigal appears to have tried to push the prime minister into granting an oil drilling license to an entity linked to Neza and Ducka, prosecutors suggested. 

McGonigal also appeared to be trying to help Neza make deals with an Albanian politician and businessman who wanted the FBI to investigate him, the Washington indictment says. 

McGonigal arranged a subsequent trip overseas for a US prosecutor to interview him in Austria, using Neza as his interpreter. Prosecutors suggested the meeting was a sham; there was no official record of the interview and Neza was not paid for the work. On the same day, McGonigal and Neza flew to Albania, where they met with the politician and discussed business opportunities, the indictment states. 

That fall, Neza gave McGonigal $225,000 in cash in three instalments, according to the indictment. Neza made one of the payments inside a parked car in New York City and the others at his home in New Jersey, prosecutors said. McGonigal promised to return the money, according to the indictment. Prosecutors have not accused McGonigal of taking any official action in exchange for the payments. 

In November, after McGonigal met again with Prime Minister Rama and Dorian Ducka in Albania, he contacted the same prosecutor who had been with him in Austria about a possible investigation into a lobbyist that Rama's political opponent had hired to gain support from the President Donald J. Trump. 

The events detailed in the indictment and other public records appear to match the description of lobbyist Nicolas D. Muzin. 

Just days before McGonigal contacted the prosecutor, on November 14, Muzin filed a complaint with the Department of Justice disclosing his lobbying for the Democratic Party of Albania, the center-right political party challenging Rama. The party was led by Lulzim Basha, who was established as a supporter of Trump. 

McGonigal opened a federal investigation into a lobbyist for Lulzim Basha, Rama's political opponent in Albania, prosecutors said. 

In early 2018, Neza continued to relay information to McGonigal—some of which came directly from Prime Minister Rama's office—about Nick Muzin, according to the Washington indictment. McGonigal would then pass this information on to others in the FBI's New York office. 

In late February, the FBI formally opened an investigation into the lobbyist at McGonigal's request and direction. Neza was among the confidential sources who provided information during the investigation, and Ducka paid witnesses in Europe for their travel and meetings with the FBI, the indictment states. 

During that time, McGonigal failed to disclose his contacts with Dorian Ducka or his financial dealings with Agron Neza, prosecutors said. It is not clear whether the Justice Department took additional steps to investigate Mr. Muzin and he was not charged. Muzin said in a statement that he "had no reason to believe that he was the victim of a false investigation." 

"But if I was, that's unfortunate and I hope justice will be done," he said.