ASHBURN, VA – An FBI employee has been fired and is facing charges after he admitted to using FBI data to take cryptocurrency out of foreign wallets and transfer it to himself, investigators allege in court documents.
According to an FBI affidavit, Patrick Steven Yaroch of Ashburn, who worked at the FBI on national security and counterintelligence issues, confessed to a colleague on July 28 that he stole money from "adversarial" cryptocurrency wallets multiple times, using information he found in FBI systems.
The FBI says Yaroch, who held a top-secret clearance, was investigating an individual from a nation the US considers to be an adversary while working in Boston on a national security investigative squad. According to the affidavit, Yaroch told a colleague and then FBI investigators that he became frustrated at not being able to disrupt this target's cryptocurrency use, so starting in late 2024, he created his own cryptocurrency wallet, searched the FBI for passphrases associated with adversarial accounts, and moved about $1 million in cryptocurrency from those accounts into his personal wallet over 10 or 12 transactions.
According to the FBI, Yaroch said he never used the money. However, also according to the affidavit, Yaroch repeatedly asked ChatGPT how he could use $1 million to start life over in another country.
They say in May 2026, Yaroch asked the application, "If I had a million dollars, how would you suggest investing it/spending it to maximize profit and return." On June 4, the FBI says Yaroch asked: "If you had a bucket of money (around $1 million) and you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen of an EU country, what would you do?"
ChatGPT repeatedly recommended Portugal as an ideal country to retire.
On June 17, they allege he asked: "If I'm an American connecting in turkey, do I need a visa?"
On June 26, the FBI says Yaroch asked ChatGPT for help writing an email about a job in Greece.
The FBI also says it found flights booked for Yaroch and his wife and child to fly to Portugal in September, and documents providing power of attorney to two lawyers in Portugal, with directions to set Yaroch up with a tax identification number in the country.
The FBI also says they discovered undisclosed travel by Yaroch to Germany, Portugal and Grenada between May 2026 and July 2026, travel Yaroch would have been required to report.
Agents seized $925,426.07 from Yaroch's cryptocurrency wallets and accounts during a search of his home on Friday, according to the FBI. He was fired by the FBI and arrested the same day.
Yaroch is charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods, securities and monies; and receipt of stolen goods, securities and monies.
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