Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, a former FBI supervisory special agent, admitted in federal court to stealing approximately $2.47 million in cryptocurrency using wallet credentials obtained by the bureau during criminal investigations. The Justice Department made the announcement on Thursday as Yaroch entered guilty pleas for wire fraud and money laundering in Alexandria, Virginia.
FBI access exploited in crypto theft scheme
Yaroch served in the FBI’s Boston Division from 2017 through early 2025, focusing on investigations involving a foreign adversarial nation state. He later transferred to the bureau’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. This role gave him access to FBI systems that stored credentials for crypto wallets collected during active cases.
Prosecutors stated that Yaroch began using these credentials by at least December 2024, withdrawing digital assets from wallets tied to subjects of ongoing investigations, nation-state actors, and even an FBI-controlled account. Over about 100 fraudulent transactions, funds originating from 35 FBI cases were diverted and subsequently moved through a series of other wallet addresses and swaps into different cryptocurrencies to obscure their origin.
Yaroch’s actions, according to the plea agreement, compromised several high-priority FBI cases against criminal groups and adversarial nation states, impacting investigative sources and intelligence-gathering methods.
He utilized some of the stolen cryptocurrencies to pay off personal debts, including credit cards, car payments, and other loans. The case revealed the vulnerability of sensitive law enforcement procedures when internal access is abused.
Using AI tools and planning an escape abroad
As the scheme unfolded, Yaroch reportedly planned for a new life overseas. He consulted ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, for advice on maximizing investment returns and choosing a destination in the European Union. Following a recommendation to purchase a vineyard in Portugal, Yaroch hired local attorneys and gave them power of attorney to acquire a Portuguese tax identification number for him.
Prosecutors said Yaroch intended to relocate to Portugal in September, arranging his affairs abroad in advance of further law enforcement scrutiny.
Mini dictionary: ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, provides AI-powered conversational responses and is often used for general advice, research, and information gathering in a wide range of subjects.
Investigation and asset seizure
The fraud first came to the authorities’ attention when Yaroch confessed to a former colleague at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, stating he had made “very poor decisions” with cryptocurrency wallets. He then self-reported to the FBI headquarters and acknowledged taking matters into his own hands due to frustration over agency inaction against an adversary’s digital assets.
He expressed regret over his actions, telling investigators he sought to address targets’ crypto accounts himself because he believed the bureau “could not or would not act.”
In the subsequent search of his home, agents recovered a Trezor hardware wallet, multiple passports, and a slip of paper with seed phrases. Authorities also seized his account assets, including approximately $188,600 on the Kraken exchange (mainly in USDC and smaller amounts in Squid (QUID) and Bitcoin) and $933,800 on Suilend, a lending protocol built on the Sui blockchain, accessed using the Slush wallet app. Yaroch reportedly chose Suilend due to personal preference for its logo.
Agents managed to transfer roughly $925,000 from Yaroch’s accounts to government-controlled wallets. However, about $165,600 held as U.S. dollars on Kraken remained inaccessible through the same channels.
| Exchange/Protocol | Asset Type | Amount Recovered |
|---|---|---|
| Kraken | USDC, QUID, Bitcoin | $188,600 |
| Suilend (Slush wallet app) | Various cryptocurrencies | $933,800 |
| Transferred to US authorities | Mixed assets | $925,000 |
| Unrecovered (USD on Kraken) | U.S. dollars | $165,600 |
Yaroch’s sentencing is scheduled for March 4, 2027. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each charge. The case highlights vulnerabilities in law enforcement’s asset storage protocols when insiders misuse privileged access.
