ALEXANDRIA, VA – A former FBI agent from Ashburn has pleaded guilty today to charges related to using his access to steal nearly $2.5 million in cryptocurrency, according to prosecutors.
Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a release.
Yaroch worked at the FBI Boston Division on a squad focused on an "adversarial nation state" from 2017 to early 2025, according to court documents. Starting in February 2025, he worked in the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
That gave him access to FBI systems that contained cryptocurrency credentials collected by the FBI, prosecutors said. The FBI maintained the credentials to monitor cryptocurrency activity by their investigation targets, which included individuals and other nations.
By December 2024, prosecutors say Yaroch had begun stealing cryptocurrency from wallets controlled by individuals or states under FBI investigation, and from at least one cryptocurrency wallet the FBI itself had created to use in an operation.
According to court documents, the amounts Yaroch stole in individual transactions ranged from 81 cents to more than $580,000. He admitted to more than 100 fraudulent transfers from more than 10 victims in 35 investigations, eventually amounting to a theft of $2.74 million.
He laundered the stolen cryptocurrency through other accounts, exchanging it for other forms of cryptocurrency. Yaroch used the proceeds to cover his debts, but he also admitted to planning to use the funds to purchase a vineyard in Portugal and begin a new life overseas. He had planned to travel to Portugal in September 2026, but he was arrested in July after confessing some of his thefts to a colleague.
Prosecutors say Yaroch's thefts compromised multiple FBI investigations.
Yaroch faces up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March 2027.
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