Crypto▼ Bearish
FBI agent stole $1M in crypto from adversarial accounts
Supervisory special agent Patrick Yaroch used FBI passphrases to drain $1M from Russia-linked accounts, then confessed after guilt.
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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 about $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, executed 10 to 12 unauthorized transfers starting in late 2024, according to court filings. He used 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.
He turned himself in around July 28, confessing to colleagues that the situation was "eating him up inside." The filings show Yaroch justified his actions by expressing frustration with what he perceived as the FBI's insufficient measures against the adversarial accounts.
Federal authorities later 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.