FBI Agent Charged in $1 Million Crypto Theft: What Happened

Former FBI supervisory special agent Patrick Steven Yaroch has been charged after prosecutors accused him of using internal bureau systems to transfer close to $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets connected to a foreign intelligence target into accounts he controlled.

The criminal complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and it charges Yaroch with interstate transportation and receipt of stolen property. The allegations have not been proven in court. 

Former FBI agent Patrick Steven Yaroch

Yaroch joined the FBI around 2017, and worked on a national security squad in the bureau’s Boston Division. He later served at FBI headquarters in the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division with a Top Secret security clearance.

Yaroch became frustrated because he believed the FBI “could not or would not act” against crypto accounts tied to an adversarial nation. Prosecutors allege that he used wallet credentials obtained through the investigation to make roughly 10 to 12 unauthorized transfers beginning in late 2024 or early 2025. 

Some reports, citing people familiar with the investigation, identified the target as Russia, but that detail has not been confirmed in the publicly described affidavit. 

Investigators allege that Yaroch mixed some of the transferred cryptocurrency with his own assets and moved funds through several wallets and platforms.

Some assets were deposited into Suilend, a decentralized lending protocol on the Sui blockchain, where users can supply crypto to earn interest. Authorities also accessed assets linked to an account at Kraken, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. 

(Source: CourtListener)

A search of Yaroch’s Virginia residence recovered electronic devices, wallet recovery phrases and a Trezor hardware wallet. With his cooperation, investigators transferred approximately $925,426 into government-controlled wallets. 

The case reportedly began after Yaroch contacted a Justice Department employee through Signal on July 28 and admitted making “very poor decisions related to cryptocurrency wallets.”

Court records say he later told officials the situation was “eating him up inside.” The FBI placed him on administrative leave, fired him and arrested him on July 31. 

The affidavit also describes searches found in Yaroch’s ChatGPT history. In May, he reportedly asked how to invest or spend $1 million to maximize returns. The chatbot suggested, among other ideas, a slower agricultural lifestyle in Portugal’s Dão wine country.

A later prompt asked what someone with about $1 million should do to leave the United States and obtain EU residency or citizenship. Investigators also found that Yaroch had booked round-trip travel to Portugal for September and authorized Portuguese lawyers to represent him before the country’s tax and customs authority.

Yaroch was temporarily remanded to US Marshals custody, with a detention and preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 4 in Alexandria, Virginia. Crimes covering interstate transportation and receipt of stolen property can each carry up to 10 years in prison. Any sentence would depend on the final charges, a conviction or plea and the judge’s findings.