Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty to stealing $2.47 million in crypto from wallets tied to 35 investigations

Patrick Steven Yaroch, a 37-year-old former FBI counterintelligence agent, has been accused of stealing nearly $2.5 million in cryptocurrency through wire fraud and money laundering. According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, Yaroch used his access to FBI systems to carry out the thefts from unidentified adversarial nations and investigation targets.

He made around 100 fraudulent transfers linked to 35 FBI investigations, earning $2,474,380.66 in the process. The US Attorney’s Office reported that Yaroch had also admitted to unauthorized transfers involving approximately $1 million in digital assets, as previously noted by Cointelegraph in August.

Before his arrest, Yaroch planned to pay off his debts and finance a new life in Portugal, where he intended to purchase a vineyard, as stated in the news release. By confessing, he acknowledged that his actions had jeopardized ongoing FBI investigations into criminal groups and adversarial nations. Yaroch is facing a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years, with sentencing scheduled for March 4, 2027.