Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2.47 Million in Crypto From Investigations
A 37-year-old former federal agent entered a guilty plea on Thursday for pilfering roughly $2.47 million in digital currency using wallet credentials amassed by the bureau throughout its own inquiries, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Patrick Steven Yaroch, who lives in Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in an Alexandria federal courtroom. Facing a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars, Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2027.
Court documents calculate the total stolen sum at $2,474,380.66. Federal prosecutors reported that Yaroch executed approximately 100 unauthorized transfers leveraging credentials linked to 35 distinct FBI investigations. These compromised wallets belonged to investigation targets, adversarial nation-state actors, and at least one wallet originally set up by the bureau for an undercover operation.
The Justice Department Office of the Inspector General initially highlighted the matter in August following Yaroch’s arrest on a criminal complaint. That earlier filing outlined a smaller batch of transactions—roughly 10 transfers valuing about $1 million—and mentioned that Yaroch disclosed his actions to two department employees on July 29, 2026. The totals confirmed in the plea agreement are significantly higher.
Between 2017 and early 2025, Yaroch worked within the FBI Boston Division assigned to a squad investigating adversarial nation-states. From February 2025 through July 31, 2026, he operated inside the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at headquarters, granting him entry to systems housing cryptocurrency credentials secured during active investigations.
How the FBI credentials turned into cash
Starting no later than December 2024, Yaroch exploited this clearance to drain funds from those wallets into accounts under his personal control. Following the thefts, he converted the acquired cryptocurrency into alternative digital tokens and executed supplementary transactions designed to obscure the origins, nature, and ultimate ownership of the assets.
Between November 25, 2025, and January 13, 2026, he funneled approximately $93,082 into a personal account, subsequently routing the money across other accounts to pay off financial obligations such as loans, car notes, and credit cards, officials stated.
Citing the identical U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, FOX 5 DC highlighted details from the plea documents regarding Yaroch’s relocation plans to Portugal. After asking ChatGPT for advice on maximizing investment gains and finding a place to live within the European Union, the chatbot recommended purchasing a vineyard in Portugal. Yaroch subsequently granted power of attorney to Portuguese lawyers on June 15, 2026, enabling them to register him with the country’s tax authorities, secure a tax identification number, and access his financial portal. He had organized travel to Portugal for September 2026.
What the plea says the FBI lost
The agreed-upon statement of facts extends well beyond financial damages. The office noted that Yaroch’s actions undermined multiple ongoing FBI investigations targeting criminal enterprises and foreign adversaries, while also compromising bureau sources and methodologies utilized in criminal proceedings and foreign intelligence gathering. Furthermore, his behavior “deprived FBI employees of their ability to carry out their functions to protect public safety and national security.”
The guilty plea was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos alongside Daniel S. Wierzbicki, the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division at the FBI Washington Field Office. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Robeson and Russell Carlberg, with support from the Justice Department National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section and the DOJ inspector general’s Mid-Atlantic region. The docket is registered as case 1:26-CR-208 in the Eastern District of Virginia.
This admission arrives amid a busy week for federal cryptocurrency crime headlines, ranging from a botched bitcoin kidnapping conspiracy that yielded a separate guilty plea last month to FBI figures indicating that U.S. crypto fraud losses exceeded $11 billion in 2025—a statistic utilized by the White House to justify a broader enforcement crackdown.
The court will determine during sentencing how to reconcile the discrepancy between Yaroch’s initial July self-reporting and the finalized $2.47 million plea amount. Also remaining uncertain is the extent to which the 35 impacted FBI cases can recover after an insider utilized the bureau’s proprietary wallet access like a personal bank account. Judge Giles will address these questions when court reconvenes on March 4, 2027.
FAQ
Who is Patrick Steven Yaroch?
Patrick Steven Yaroch is a 37-year-old former FBI agent from Ashburn, Virginia, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
How much cryptocurrency did Yaroch steal?
Court papers state that Yaroch stole approximately $2.47 million in cryptocurrency using bureau wallet credentials.
When is Yaroch’s sentencing scheduled?
Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles on March 4, 2027.
What is the maximum prison sentence he faces?
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
