Patrick Steven Yaroch, a 37-year-old former FBI agent from Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing approximately $2.47 million in cryptocurrency using wallet credentials the bureau had collected during its own investigations.
Yaroch entered guilty pleas to wire fraud and money laundering in federal court in Alexandria. U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles accepted the plea. The defendant had access to systems storing cryptocurrency credentials while serving in the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at headquarters from February 2025 through July 31, 2026.
According to court filings, Yaroch made roughly 100 fraudulent transfers from wallets tied to 35 separate FBI investigations. The exact amount stolen was $2,474,380.66. He then converted the stolen cryptocurrency into other digital assets and conducted additional transactions to obscure the source, nature, and ownership of the funds. He routed laundered money through credit card payments, car payments, and loans.
Yaroch began moving coins no later than December 2024. Between November 25, 2025, and January 13, 2026, he transferred approximately $93,082 into one of his accounts. On June 15, 2026, he gave Portuguese lawyers power of attorney. Yaroch arranged travel to Portugal for September 2026 after consulting ChatGPT about maximizing investment returns and living in the European Union. The chatbot suggested buying a vineyard in Portugal.
On July 29, 2026, Yaroch self-reported his activity to two department employees. The Justice Department Office of the Inspector General flagged the case in August 2026. The case is docketed as 1:26-CR-208 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
According to the plea agreement, Yaroch’s conduct compromised multiple FBI investigations into criminal groups and nation-state adversaries, compromised FBI sources and methods, and deprived FBI employees of the ability to carry out functions protecting public safety and national security.
Yaroch faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 4, 2027. Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Robeson and Russell Carlberg prosecuted the case. Daniel S. Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Counterintelligence Division, led the investigation.
The FBI reported that U.S. cryptocurrency fraud losses reached $11 billion in 2025.
