FBI Counterintelligence Supervisor Arrested in Alleged $1 Million Crypto Theft from Investigative Wallets

A supervisory special agent in the FBI’s counterintelligence and espionage division has been arrested and charged after allegedly transferring nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from digital wallets tied to investigations of an adversarial foreign nation into his personal accounts.

Patrick Steven Yaroch, a resident of Ashburn, Virginia, who held top secret security clearance, was fired and taken into custody on July 31. Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia outline charges of interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods.

Voluntary Confession and Admissions

Yaroch approached a Department of Justice employee in late July and requested a meeting to discuss personal matters. Upon arriving at FBI headquarters, he became emotional and described making poor decisions involving cryptocurrency wallets. He later told agents he had “f**ked up” and that the actions had been “eating him up inside.”

According to the affidavit, Yaroch admitted accessing FBI systems while assigned to a national security squad focused on an unnamed adversary nation. He said he located and memorized recovery phrases or keys associated with adversarial cryptocurrency accounts under investigation. Beginning in late 2024 or early 2025, while based in the Boston field office, and continuing after his transfer to headquarters in Washington, he conducted approximately 10 to 12 transfers into a personal wallet he controlled.

He stated he acted out of frustration that the agency could not or would not take further steps to disrupt the use of those accounts. The combined value of the holdings in his possession reached roughly $1 million. Investigators later recovered approximately $925,426 in cryptocurrency that was moved into government-controlled wallets, along with additional balances held as cash and stablecoins.

Handling of the Assets and Platform Use

Yaroch created personal accounts on the Kraken exchange and later moved funds via a Slush wallet into the Suilend decentralized finance protocol on the Sui blockchain. He told investigators he selected the platform in part because he liked its logo. Searches of his residence yielded a hardware wallet, handwritten seed phrases, and electronic records of the accounts.

Agents reported that personal funds and the transferred assets had been intermingled. Preliminary balances showed significant portions held on Suilend and smaller amounts remaining on Kraken, including U.S. dollars and USDC.

AI Queries and Travel Plans

Examination of Yaroch’s phone and computer revealed multiple conversations with ChatGPT. In one exchange he asked how best to invest or spend about $1 million to maximize returns. Days later he inquired about leaving the United States with a similar sum to become a resident or citizen of a European Union country. The responses recommended Portugal as a preferred option, citing factors including family considerations, interest in a rural estate, and preferences for wine.

Investigators also located evidence of planned family travel to Portugal in early September, power-of-attorney documents related to that country, and records of recent trips to Germany, Portugal, and Grenada that had not been reported as required under FBI policy. Yaroch told agents the Portugal trip was intended to visit friends and that he hoped his wife and child could still travel even if he could not.

Background and Court Proceedings

Yaroch joined the FBI in 2017 and spent years in the Boston division on national-security investigations before moving to the counterintelligence and espionage division at headquarters. He also served as a detailee within the broader U.S. intelligence community.

Following his confession and internal self-reporting, the FBI suspended him briefly, then terminated his employment and arrested him the same day. He was ordered detained in Alexandria, Virginia, pending further proceedings. A federal public defender representing him has declined public comment.

The FBI stated it took immediate action once the allegations came to light. The case remains focused on the alleged unauthorized transfers of digital assets that were under official investigation.