FBI special agent arrested for stealing $1 million in cryptocurrency

A supervisor at the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been arrested after unauthorized use of his high-level clearance to steal cryptocurrency from foreign accounts.

Supervisory Special Agent Patrick Steven Yaroch, who worked in counterintelligence and held a Top Secret clearance, was fired on July 31 after confessing to investigators that he used FBI systems to retrieve keys and transfer cryptocurrency from foreign accounts to his personal wallets.

“I took matters into my own hands,” Yaroch reportedly said, adding that he was frustrated with what he perceived as the FBI’s failure to disrupt adversarial assets.

I made some “very poor decisions related to cryptocurrency wallets,” Yaroch told investigators at the Department of Justice last week.

He confessed that he had carried out about 10 to 12 unauthorized money transfers, commingling stolen cryptocurrency with his own personal assets.

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed with a district court in Virginia on Monday, Yaroch used FBI systems to access the keys needed to transfer the funds from cryptocurrency accounts associated with an “adversarial nation” said to be Russia to his personal wallets.

The released court documents show that Yaroch began stealing in late 2024 or early 2025, conducting multiple unauthorized transfers totaling around $1 million.

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A review of Yaroch’s phone found that in May he had asked ChatGPT how to invest $1 million.

Yaroch told the artificial intelligence platform he was 37 and wanted to retire at 40. “If I had a million dollars, how would you suggest investing/spending it to maximize profit and return,” he asked it.

He asked the AI platform how to relocate $1 million to a European country.

Yaroch then chose Portugal as his destination and obtained power of attorney for lawyers in Lisbon to secure a tax identification number and booked a family trip for September, and made unreported foreign travel to Germany and Grenada earlier this year, according to the records.

On July 29, Yaroch reported himself to the US Department of Justice, saying what he had done was “eating him up inside.”

He was placed on administrative leave on the same day, and his employment was terminated by the FBI two days later on July 31.

We “immediately took action” as soon as we became aware of what Yaroch had done, a spokesperson said on Monday. “The individual has since been fired from the Bureau. We hold our employees to the highest ethical standards, and this conduct is not tolerated at the FBI.”

“We are conducting a thorough investigation in the aftermath, and as this is an ongoing matter, we will have no further comment,” the spokesperson added.

In the meantime, Yaroch voluntarily returned $925,426.07 to government-controlled wallets and also submitted an online FBI self-report form and met with personnel at FBI headquarters to discuss the matter.

At present, Yaroch faces only two charges related to interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods. If convicted, the penalty is a fine, imprisonment for up to 3 years, or both. If Yaroch had not returned all the money he had stolen, he would face a hefty sentence if convicted.

Also, in his court affidavit, Yaroch insisted that he “never interacted with anyone associated with the adversarial accounts, including foreign entities.”

Obtaining or transmitting unauthorized information for the purpose of benefiting a foreign entity or country through spying, surveillance, or other covert means is defined as espionage under US law. If individuals are convicted in court of espionage, they face life in prison or death.

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