Former FBI agent Patrick Steven Yaroch pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after using credentials stored in bureau systems to steal $2,474,380.66 in cryptocurrency. The credentials were tied to 35 investigations, and one wallet he accessed had been created by the FBI for an operation. His conduct also compromised investigations into criminal groups and nation-state adversaries, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The theft began no later than December 2024. Yaroch moved funds out of wallets linked to FBI cases and into wallets he controlled, then made further transactions to obscure where the money came from and who owned it.
Investigative access gave Yaroch control of the wallets
Yaroch served on an FBI Boston Division squad focused on an adversarial nation state from 2017 through early 2025. He then moved to the bureau’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, where he had access to systems containing crypto credentials collected during investigations.
Those credentials gave him access to wallets controlled by subjects of other cases and by nation-state actors. They also gave him access to the FBI-created operational wallet. After transferring crypto to his own wallets, Yaroch exchanged it for other cryptocurrencies and made more transactions to hide its source and ownership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The FBI affidavit records the account Yaroch gave when he came forward. He told FBI personnel that he had searched bureau holdings for information on adversarial crypto accounts and memorized passphrases found there. He said he was frustrated that the FBI could not or would not act against those accounts and wanted to:
“take matters into his own hands”
Patrick Steven Yaroch, as recounted in the FBI affidavit
The credentials in his later plea reached beyond the adversarial accounts in that explanation. They included credentials from other investigations, giving Yaroch a way to remove funds from wallets connected to cases outside his own work.
The case damage reached beyond $2.47 million
The agreed statement of facts says Yaroch’s conduct compromised multiple FBI investigations involving criminal groups and nation-state adversaries. It also says his actions hindered employees’ ability to protect public safety and national security. The damage included work that could not be measured by the amount transferred from the wallets.
“Yaroch’s actions also compromised FBI sources and methods used in foreign intelligence collection and criminal investigations.”
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
The Justice Department identifies neither the affected investigations nor the specific sources and methods exposed. The plea establishes how Yaroch reached the wallets: he used investigative credentials stored in FBI systems for personal transfers, including a transfer from the wallet the bureau had created for an operation.
That access connected the theft to cases built around the wallets and the people who controlled them. Yaroch received $2,474,380.66 in fraudulent proceeds, while FBI personnel faced compromised investigations and collection methods.
The money trail led to debts and plans for Portugal
Between November 25, 2025, and January 13, 2026, Yaroch moved approximately $93,082 into one of his accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He then shifted funds among accounts used to pay credit cards, car payments and other loans. He also planned to use the proceeds to live abroad.
Yaroch asked ChatGPT about investment returns and places to live in the European Union. After it suggested a vineyard in Portugal, he gave Portuguese lawyers power of attorney on June 15, 2026, to obtain a tax identification number and access to his finance portal. He arranged travel for September 2026.
His first account covered a fraction of the admitted transfers
On July 29, 2026, Yaroch told a former Justice Department colleague about his conduct, then self-reported to FBI headquarters. The affidavit says he described roughly 10 to 12 transfers involving less than $1 million. An inspector general announcement after his August arrest described approximately 10 transfers totaling about $1 million.
Yaroch’s plea covers about 100 fraudulent transfers. That larger figure includes activity involving wallets from other investigations and the FBI operation, beyond the adversarial accounts he described when he first explained his actions.
Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles accepted Yaroch’s guilty plea in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. He faces up to 20 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 4, 2027.
