Former FBI agent pleads guilty to stealing about $2.5 million in crypto from investigated wallets

What happened

• Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, admitting he used passphrases obtained from FBI case management systems and another investigative data-sharing platform to transfer funds from cryptocurrency wallets of fraud victims or suspects under FBI investigation to his own wallets.
• The Justice Department said Yaroch conducted approximately 100 fraudulent transfers using credentials related to 35 separate FBI investigations and gained approximately $2,474,380.66 in fraudulent proceeds.
• According to court documents, after transferring the cryptocurrency he tried to launder the funds by exchanging it for other cryptocurrencies.
• Between Nov. 25, 2025, and Jan. 13, 2026, Yaroch transferred approximately $93,082 to one of his accounts and then moved funds between his accounts to pay debts including credit cards, car payments and other loans, the Justice Department said.
• Yaroch worked on a national security investigative squad at the FBI Boston Division from 2017 to 2025 and as a supervisory special agent in the FBI Headquarters Counterintelligence and Espionage Division between February 2025 and July 2026; he self-reported the theft on July 29, was arrested July 31 and was fired July 31, 2026.
• Prosecutors said his actions compromised multiple FBI investigations involving nation-state adversaries and criminal groups, as well as FBI sources and methods used in criminal investigations and foreign intelligence collection.
• Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, facing up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and a further maximum of 20 years for money laundering.

Why it matters

The plea establishes that an FBI insider used investigative credentials to divert about $2.5 million in cryptocurrency, and prosecutors say the theft compromised investigations involving criminal groups and nation-state adversaries.

What is unknown

One source gives the sentencing date as March 4, 2027, while another gives only March 4; the year is not confirmed across sources. One report says investigators initially estimated about $1 million in losses and that Yaroch said he was frustrated with government handling of crypto accounts, details not corroborated elsewhere. The full extent of damage to specific investigations has not been publicly detailed.