Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2.47 Million in Crypto From Investigations
Former FBI agent Patrick Steven Yaroch pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after using wallet credentials from 35 bureau investigations to steal cryptocurrency. Prosecutors say the thefts compromised active cases and intelligence methods, and sentencing is set for March 4, 2027.
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What Prosecutors Allege
Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to wire fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department said Thursday. Prosecutors put the total stolen at about $2.47 million, while Decrypt's report describes the figure as roughly $2.5 million. Yaroch faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2027.
According to prosecutors, Yaroch worked in the FBI's Boston Division from 2017 to early 2025 before moving to the bureau's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, where he had access to systems holding crypto credentials collected during investigations. Beginning no later than December 2024, he made about 100 fraudulent transfers using credentials from 35 separate FBI investigations, drawing on wallets tied to investigation subjects, nation-state actors and at least one wallet the FBI had created for an operation. He then swapped the funds into other cryptocurrencies and moved them through further transactions to obscure their origin, using some of the proceeds to pay off credit cards, car payments and other loans.
Scope of the Damage
The plea agreement's statement of facts says the thefts compromised multiple FBI investigations into criminal groups and nation-state adversaries, along with sources and methods used in foreign intelligence collection. The statement does not detail which cases were affected, and it is the compromise of ongoing work rather than the dollar amount that prosecutors emphasize in the filing.
Discrepancies in the Figures
The sources differ on how much Yaroch actually moved. Court documents cited by the Justice Department put the total at about $2.47 million across roughly 100 transfers. The FBI affidavit, however, records Yaroch telling agents at the time of his self-report that he had made about 10 to 12 transfers worth under $1 million. Decrypt's reporting does not reconcile that gap, and the two accounts cannot both be complete. The affidavit's account is an earlier statement by the defendant rather than a final determination, so the plea figures should be treated as the operative numbers pending sentencing.
How Yaroch Was Caught
According to the FBI affidavit, Yaroch came forward himself. On July 29 he broke down while telling a former colleague at the Justice Department's National Security Division that he had made "very poor decisions" involving crypto wallets. He then self-reported to FBI headquarters, saying he had become frustrated that the bureau "could not or would not act" against an adversary's crypto accounts and had decided to "take matters into his own hands."
Agents searching his home two days later seized a Trezor hardware wallet, three passports and a slip of paper with seed phrases. The affidavit describes his Kraken account as holding about $188,600, mostly in U.S. dollars and USDC, with smaller amounts in Squid (QUID) and Bitcoin. A further $933,800 sat in Suilend, a lending protocol on the Sui blockchain, accessed through the Slush wallet app. Agents transferred about $925,000 from those accounts to government-controlled wallets. The roughly $165,600 held as U.S. dollars on Kraken could not be moved the same way.
Planned Relocation
Prosecutors say Yaroch had also planned a move abroad. He asked ChatGPT how to maximize investment profits and where to live in the European Union, and after the chatbot suggested buying a vineyard in Portugal, he gave Portuguese lawyers power of attorney to obtain a tax identification number for him. He had arranged to travel to Portugal in September.
Why It Matters
For Traders
The roughly $925,000 transferred to government wallets is a near-term figure to watch, but the case itself is unlikely to move prices in the next 24 to 72 hours.
For Investors
The case shows that law enforcement custody of seized crypto and credential handling is a real operational risk, which may draw more regulatory scrutiny over time.
For Builders
Custody and credential storage practices at agencies and institutions are now a visible failure mode, so teams handling seized or third-party keys should review internal access controls.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
