ASHBURN, VIRGINIA — Former FBI supervisory special agent Patrick Steven Yaroch was arrested on July 31, 2026, in Ashburn, Virginia, after admitting to stealing approximately $1.02 million in cryptocurrency from an FBI investigation. The bureau charged him by criminal complaint with interstate transportation of stolen goods, securities, and monies, as well as receipt of stolen goods, securities, and monies.

The arrest followed a rapid sequence of disclosures that began when Yaroch contacted a Justice Department employee on July 28 and requested a private meeting. When the two met the following day, Yaroch reportedly broke down and admitted that he had made poor decisions involving cryptocurrency wallets. According to the affidavit, Yaroch said the shame was "eating him up inside" and that he wanted to "get it off his chest."

The Justice Department employee advised him to obtain a lawyer and report his conduct immediately. Yaroch then contacted FBI headquarters and disclosed that he had mishandled the cryptocurrency. He submitted an online FBI self-report form and voluntarily met with personnel at FBI headquarters to discuss his actions.

The FBI placed Yaroch on administrative leave on July 29. On July 31, the bureau dismissed him from service. Agents later arrested Yaroch at his home after the cryptocurrency was transferred to government wallets. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey R. Vaala of the Eastern District of Virginia ordered Yaroch temporarily detained, and a hearing is set for Tuesday.

Yaroch worked in the FBI's Boston Division from approximately 2017 to 2025, where he was assigned to a national security squad investigating an individual from a country identified in the affidavit only as an adversarial nation. The investigation concerned Russia. According to the affidavit, Yaroch became frustrated in late 2024 because the FBI could not or would not disrupt the target's use of cryptocurrency accounts. Yaroch allegedly told FBI personnel that he had decided to "take matters into his own hands." The affidavit says Yaroch never interacted with anyone associated with the adversarial accounts, including foreign entities.

Yaroch later worked in the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at FBI headquarters and held a Top Secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information. Investigators allege that Yaroch searched internal FBI holdings for wallet credentials, memorized seed phrases needed to access the accounts, created a personal cryptocurrency wallet, and transferred funds into it approximately 10 to 12 times. On July 31, Yaroch signed a consent form allowing investigators to seize funds from cryptocurrency accounts under his control. When the FBI searched his home, Yaroch handed over his FBI credentials and details of his cryptocurrency wallets.

During a search of Yaroch's home in Ashburn, Virginia, agents seized a hardware wallet, computers, phones, and a handwritten slip containing presumed cryptocurrency seed phrases. Investigators found that Yaroch had moved approximately $1.02 million on or around July 23 into an account on Suilend, a decentralized lending platform. A preliminary review showed a balance of approximately $933,756 in the Suilend account. Yaroch told investigators that he had placed the funds in Suilend to earn interest and chose the service because he liked its water-droplet logo.

Yaroch's Kraken account held approximately $188,570, primarily in US dollars and the USDC stablecoin. The FBI transferred cryptocurrency valued at approximately $925,426 into US government-controlled wallets. The total value of all transferred funds was about $925,426.07. Approximately $165,582 in US dollars remained in the Kraken account because the money could not be transferred into a government cryptocurrency wallet, the affidavit said.

he said the transferred cryptocurrency had been mixed with his personal assets, including investment gains, making it difficult for him to determine the precise amount allegedly taken. He estimated that the stolen sum was less than $1 million.

Investigators reviewed conversations on Yaroch's phone in which he asked ChatGPT how to invest or spend $1 million and how to relocate to an EU country. The phone contained details of a round-trip family visit to Portugal scheduled for September. Agents found documents granting Portuguese lawyers power of attorney to obtain a local tax identification number for Yaroch. He told investigators that he was not planning to move money into Portugal and that the family trip had been arranged to meet friends.

The FBI stated it had acted immediately after learning of the allegations and added that "this conduct is not tolerated at the FBI." The criminal complaint covers alleged conduct from at least January 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026.