A former FBI counterintelligence supervisor has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $2.4 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to 35 FBI investigations, including wallets controlled by hackers working for at least two adversarial nations, The Record reported Friday. Prosecutors say the thefts also exposed those investigations to their targets, showing how one insider with access to stored digital keys can both drain assets and undermine sensitive work.
What Happened
Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, a supervisory special agent in the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at FBI headquarters, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, according to The Record. He admitted using his seniority to reach FBI systems that held the codes and passwords needed to move the funds, the outlet reported.
Beginning in December 2024, he made 100 transfers from 79 wallets, ranging from 81 cents to more than $580,000 in a single transfer, The Record reported. Besides the state-linked hackers, the wallets belonged to 10 crime victims. Prosecutors said he used the money to pay off debts.
Prosecutors also said his misuse of the credentials exposed FBI investigations to the people who controlled the wallets, compromising sources and methods in cases involving both criminal groups and nation-state adversaries. He confessed in July to a Justice Department employee he knew from a previous job, The Record reported. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and sentencing is set for March.
The Earlier Charges
A criminal complaint filed Aug. 1 in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, charged Yaroch with interstate transportation and receipt of stolen property, according to the supporting affidavit. The affidavit says the FBI fired him July 31, the day he was arrested, and that agents moved about $925,000 in cryptocurrency from accounts he controlled into government wallets with his written consent. The total reported with the plea is more than twice that amount. The Record did not name the countries, the court or the plea date.
Why It Matters
Law enforcement agencies increasingly seize or monitor cryptocurrency tied to criminals and state hackers, so investigators can end up holding keys worth millions. Banks, exchanges and custodians face the same exposure: crypto transfers are fast and hard to reverse, and an employee who can read stored recovery codes may need no one's help to move funds.
The figures reported by The Record suggest the transfers ran for roughly a year and a half and ended with a confession rather than an internal alert. For boards and executives, the lesson applies to any privileged access: require at least two people to approve transfers from controlled wallets, separate the people who can view credentials from those who can use them, and monitor every wallet an organization holds so that any unexpected movement triggers a review.
What to Watch
Sentencing in March may bring filings that name the countries involved and account more fully for the losses. Also watch for any public statement from the FBI or the Justice Department on how seized and monitored wallet credentials are stored and who can reach them.
