A former FBI agent has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $2.5 million from the wallets of fraud victims and nation-state hackers under investigation.
37-year-old Patrick Steven Yaroch worked on a national security investigative squad at the FBI Boston Division (FBI BS) from 2017 to 2025, and as a supervisory special agent in the FBI Headquarters (FBIHQ) Counterintelligence and Espionage Division (CED) between February 2025 and July 2026.
He was arrested on July 31 at his residence after self-reporting the crypto theft to Department of Justice (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD) and FBIHQ employees on July 29. The FBI fired Yaroch on July 31, 2026, after first placing him on administrative leave on July 29.
Yaroch pleaded guilty on Thursday to wire fraud and money laundering charges, admitting that he used passphrases (obtained from the FBI's case management systems and another platform used to share investigative data) to transfer funds from the cryptocurrency wallets of fraud victims or suspects under FBI investigation to his own wallets.
According to court documents, after transferring the cryptocurrency, he tried to launder the funds by exchanging it for other cryptocurrencies.
"Throughout his wire fraud scheme, Yaroch conducted approximately 100 fraudulent transfers using credentials related to 35 separate FBI investigations. He illicitly gained approximately $2,474,380.66 in fraudulent proceeds," the Justice Department said.
"Between Nov. 25, 2025, and Jan. 13, 2026, Yaroch transferred approximately $93,082 to one of his accounts, then transferred the funds between his other accounts from which he sent various payments to cover his debts, including credit cards, car payments, and other loans."
Yaroch was also planning to move to Portugal in early September with his family (as shown by flight tickets to Lisbon and power-of-attorney documents to two lawyers in Portugal to obtain a tax identification number) after asking ChatGPT where to live in the European Union.
"If you had a bucket ofmoney (around $1 million) and you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen ofan EU country, what would you do?," he asked. ChatGPT said that "At 37, with a young family, a goal of potentially retiring around 40, and a clear interest in eventually building a slower-living vineyard/agricultural lifestyle in places like Cilento or Portugal's Dão region…"
The prosecutors added that Yaroch's actions have compromised multiple FBI investigations involving both nation-state adversaries and criminal groups, as well as FBI sources and methods used in criminal investigations and foreign intelligence collection.
Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, facing up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and another maximum of 20 years for money laundering.
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