Alexandria, Virginia: Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2.47 Million in Crypto From Bureau Investigations

A former FBI agent pleaded guilty on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Alexandria to stealing about $2.47 million in cryptocurrency with wallet credentials the bureau had collected during its own investigations, the Justice Department said.

Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles. Prosecutors said he made about 100 fraudulent transfers using credentials tied to 35 separate FBI investigations and took $2,474,380.66 in all.

Access built over two postings

Yaroch worked at the FBI Boston Division from 2017 through early 2025, on an investigative squad focused on an adversarial nation state, according to court documents summarized by the Justice Department. From February 2025 to July 31, 2026, he worked in the FBI Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. That posting gave him access to FBI systems that held cryptocurrency credentials collected as part of bureau investigations.

Beginning no later than December 2024, prosecutors said, Yaroch used that access to take cryptocurrency from wallets controlled by subjects of other investigations and by adversarial nation state actors. He also took funds from at least one wallet the FBI itself had created for use in an operation.

Money moved to hide its origin

After taking the funds, Yaroch swapped the stolen cryptocurrency into other digital assets and moved the proceeds through further transactions to hide where the money came from and who owned it, the Justice Department said. Reporting based on the court affidavit in the case said investigators moved about $925,400 from accounts tied to Yaroch into government controlled wallets on July 31, 2026.

The agreed statement of facts in the plea said Yaroch's actions compromised multiple FBI investigations tied to criminal groups and to nation state adversaries. The Justice Department said the scheme also compromised sources and methods the bureau uses in foreign intelligence collection.

Sentencing set for March

Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2027. He faces up to 20 years in prison, the Justice Department said. The case is docketed in the Eastern District of Virginia as case number 1:26-CR-208, and court documents are available through the district court website and PACER under that number.

The plea closes the criminal case against Yaroch himself. The Justice Department announcement did not give a final accounting of how much of the $2.47 million has been recovered.