Patrick Steven Yaroch admitted using investigative credentials to move cryptocurrency into his own wallets. The US Justice Department said he obtained approximately $2.47 million; sentencing is scheduled for 4 March.
Former FBI agent Patrick Steven Yaroch pleaded guilty on Thursday to wire fraud and money laundering, admitting that he used credentials from investigative systems to transfer cryptocurrency from fraud victims' and investigation subjects' wallets to his own.
The US Justice Department said Yaroch obtained approximately $2.47 million through about 100 fraudulent transfers using credentials connected to 35 FBI investigations. BleepingComputer said court documents described how he tried to launder the funds by exchanging them for other cryptocurrencies.
Yaroch worked on a national security investigative squad in the FBI’s Boston Division from 2017 to 2025. He then served as a supervisory special agent in the agency’s headquarters Counterintelligence and Espionage Division from February 2025 to July 2026. The credentials he used came from the FBI’s case management systems and another platform for sharing investigative data.
The transfers began in December 2024 and involved 79 wallets, The Record said. It said Yaroch used his seniority to access codes and passwords and took funds from at least two adversarial nations and 10 crime victims.
The Justice Department said Yaroch transferred approximately $93,082 to an account between 25 November 2025, and 13 January 2026, then moved money among accounts used to pay debts, including credit cards, car payments and other loans. Flight tickets to Lisbon and powers of attorney for two Portuguese lawyers showed he had planned to move to Portugal with his family in early September.
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Prosecutors said Yaroch’s actions compromised multiple FBI investigations involving criminal groups and nation-state adversaries, as well as sources and methods used in criminal investigations and foreign intelligence collection.
Yaroch disclosed the theft to Justice Department and FBI headquarters employees on 29 July. The FBI placed him on administrative leave that day and fired him on 31 July 2026, when he was arrested at his residence.
Sentencing is scheduled for 4 March. Yaroch faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count; his sentence has yet to be determined.
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