Ex-FBI agent charged after allegedly stealing $1M in crypto

Patrick Steven Yaroch, a former FBI supervisory special agent, was charged on July 31, 2026, with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods after prosecutors say he transferred nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to FBI counterintelligence investigations.

Prosecutors allege the thefts occurred between early 2025 and July 2026 while Yaroch was assigned to the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division and held a Top Secret clearance. The complaint says he accessed FBI systems, obtained recovery seed phrases for cryptocurrency wallets connected to investigations involving an unnamed foreign adversary, memorized those phrases, created his own wallets and moved funds into accounts he controlled about 10 times. Yaroch told investigators the holdings grew to about $1 million.

Searches of Yaroch’s home and electronic devices recovered a Trezor hardware wallet, handwritten seed phrases and a Kraken account with a balance of about $188,570, including roughly $166,000 in U.S. dollars and nearly $18,000 in USDC, plus small amounts of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Prosecutors say those recoveries, together with his admissions, provided probable cause for the arrest.

Court filings describe a July 28, 2026 meeting at FBI headquarters after Yaroch contacted a Justice Department employee via Signal to discuss personal matters. The complaint states, “Upon meeting DOJ Employee 1 at FBI headquarters, Yaroch immediately started to break down as he told his story.” The filing says Yaroch admitted accessing systems and transferring the funds to accounts under his control.

Investigators also recovered multiple ChatGPT conversations from Yaroch’s phone. On May 28 he asked how to invest or spend $1 million “to maximize profit and return,” according to the affidavit. Within a week he asked how someone with about $1 million could leave the U.S. and become a resident or citizen of a European Union country. Other queries concerned whether Americans need a visa when transiting through Turkey and assistance drafting an email about a job opportunity and life in Greece.

Agents found travel plans and foreign paperwork during searches, including power-of-attorney documents related to Portugal and a planned family trip to Portugal in September 2026. The complaint records that Yaroch told agents he was not planning to funnel money into Portugal and that he hoped his wife and child could still take the trip. Prosecutors also cite previously unreported foreign travel discovered during the investigation.

The FBI has not identified the foreign adversary referenced in the filings. The case is pending in federal court, where prosecutors will present evidence to support the charges.