FBI agent allegedly steals $1M in cryptocurrency from investigations

The person tasked with investigating crypto crimes became the crypto criminal. Patrick Steven Yaroch, a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s counterintelligence division, was arrested in late July after allegedly stealing approximately $1 million in digital assets from accounts he was supposed to be monitoring. Yaroch, who held top secret clearance and worked on national security matters, reportedly executed 10 to 12 unauthorized transfers starting in late 2024, using passphrases he obtained through FBI systems to move funds from accounts linked to an adversarial nation, identified in some reports as Russia, into his personal wallets. The confession and the collapse Yaroch turned himself in around July 28, confessing to colleagues that the situation was “eating him up inside.” According to court filings, he justified his actions by expressing frustration with what he perceived as the FBI’s insufficient measures against the adversarial accounts he had been investigating. Authorities found that Yaroch had made previously unreported travel to Portugal and had used AI tools to explore options for relocating abroad with roughly $1 million. During a search of his home in Ashburn, Virgi...