FBI agent charged in theft of almost $1M in cryptocurrency from Russia

Administration FBI agent charged in theft of almost $1M in cryptocurrency from Russia Comments: by Mira Bhakta - 08/04/26 4:59 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Mira Bhakta - 08/04/26 4:59 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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A supervisory FBI agent faces two federal charges for collecting more than $900,000 between “adversarial” cryptocurrency accounts tied to criminal targets overseas to his personal wallet.

The FBI fired Patrick Steven Yaroch last week, and he was arrested for interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods. In an affidavit, Yaroch admitted to the crimes to an unnamed Department of Justice employee because he was “frustrated when he could not do more to disrupt this individual’s use of cryptocurrency,” referring to who he took the cryptocurrency from.

According to two officials familiar with the matter, the adversarial targets were related to Russia, NBC News reported.

Yaroch also voluntarily met with personnel at FBI headquarters, where he said he wanted to disclose something because he had “screwed up.”

According to detailed descriptions between agents and Yaroch, he has been fully cooperative with federal officials and allowed agents to use his biometric information to unlock his devices.

Yaroch detailed how he researched cryptocurrency further and memorized passphrases in order to successfully transfer funds. He admitted that he had conducted these transfers, starting in late 2024, around 10 to 12 times but did not know the exact amount he transferred because the funds were mixed with his personal assets. Yaroch added that his actions were “eating him up inside” and he wanted to “get it off his chest.”

On July 30th, United States Magistrate Judge William B. Porter authorized a search warrant of Yaroch’s person, home and vehicle by the FBI. A search of his phone showed ChatGPT logs where he theorized using a large sum of money to potentially move abroad.

“If you had a bucket of money (around $1 million) and you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen of an EU country, what would you do,” he asked the chatbot.

Investigations also uncovered a trip in September for Yaroch and his family to Portugal, which he said was to meet friends. He realized he may not be able to go anymore, though he hoped his family could still go on the trip.

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