FBI Agent Charged with Stealing $1 Million in Crypto
An FBI agent has been charged with stealing around $1 million in cryptocurrency from foreigners the agency was investigating. Patrick Steven Yaroch, who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), used his access to FBI systems to transfer funds from cryptocurrency accounts associated with an 'adversarial nation' to himself.
Yaroch became aware of the accounts in November 2024 while working on an investigation and grew frustrated that the FBI 'could not or would not act against' such accounts. He then used his access to find the keys needed to transfer the money to himself, making around 10 transfers totalling about $1 million.
The agent turned himself in last week after confessing to his actions, which he described as 'very poor decisions related to cryptocurrency wallets.' He met with a DOJ employee and 'immediately started to break down' as he told his story.