A former FBI supervisory special agent pleaded guilty Thursday to wire fraud and money laundering after diverting approximately $2.47 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to federal investigations. Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, entered the pleas in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, with sentencing set for March 4, 2027.

Court records place the total at $2,474,380.66. Prosecutors said Yaroch executed roughly 100 unauthorized transfers using credentials linked to 35 separate FBI investigations. The funds came from wallets controlled by investigation subjects, nation-state actors, and at least one account the bureau itself had established for an operation.

Access to Sensitive Credentials

Yaroch served in the FBI’s Boston Division from 2017 through early 2025 on a squad investigating an adversarial nation-state. In February 2025 he moved to the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at headquarters. That assignment provided access to systems storing cryptocurrency wallet credentials gathered during criminal and intelligence work.

Prosecutors stated the thefts began no later than December 2024. Yaroch searched investigative records, memorized recovery information, and moved assets into wallets he controlled. He then swapped the stolen cryptocurrency into other digital assets and conducted additional transactions designed to conceal the origin, nature, and ownership of the funds.

Between November 25, 2025, and January 13, 2026, he transferred about $93,082 into one of his accounts and shuffled money among others. Portions of the proceeds covered personal obligations, including credit-card balances, vehicle payments, and other loans.

The conduct also limited the ability of FBI employees to carry out their responsibilities for public safety and national security, according to the agreed facts.

Self-Reporting and Recovery Efforts

On July 29, 2026, Yaroch told 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, explaining that frustration over the bureau’s inability or unwillingness to act against an adversary’s cryptocurrency accounts led him to take matters into his own hands. At that time he described only 10 to 12 transfers totaling less than $1 million—far below the amount later established.

Agents searching his home two days later seized a Trezor hardware wallet, three passports, and a slip of paper containing seed phrases. His Kraken account held roughly $188,600, primarily in U.S. dollars and USDC, with smaller holdings in Squid (QUID) and Bitcoin. An additional $933,800 resided in Suilend, a lending protocol on the Sui blockchain accessed through the Slush wallet app. Yaroch told investigators he selected Suilend because he liked the water-droplet logo.

Authorities transferred approximately $925,000 from those accounts to government-controlled wallets. About $165,600 held as U.S. dollars on Kraken could not be moved through the same process.

Plans for Life Abroad

While the scheme continued, Yaroch explored relocating overseas. He asked ChatGPT how to maximize investment returns and where to live within the European Union. After the chatbot recommended purchasing a vineyard in Portugal, he granted Portuguese lawyers power of attorney on June 15, 2026. The authorization allowed them to register him with the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority, obtain a tax identification number, and collect credentials for his online finance account. He arranged travel to Portugal for September 2026, but the arrest in July ended those plans.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos and Daniel S. Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division, announced the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Robeson and Russell Carlberg are handling the prosecution, with support from the National Security Division and the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General. The case is docketed as 1:26-CR-208 in the Eastern District of Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing will determine the term of imprisonment after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.