Former FBI Supervisor Admits Stealing $2.47 Million in Crypto

A former FBI supervisor has pled guilty to stealing about $2.47 million in cryptocurrency from wallets linked to 35 FBI investigations, including crypto tied to adversarial nation-state actors. The theft began no later than December 2024, with around 100 transfers carried out using credentials tied to 35 investigations.

The FBI’s search affidavit states that Patrick Steven Yaroch accessed FBI systems containing wallet seed phrases and memorised them; seed phrases are used to restore access to crypto wallets and control the funds unless protected. Yaroch then moved the funds to a personal wallet on his own device, swapped assets into different currencies, and conducted further transactions to obscure origins. The Department of Justice describes the actions as compromising multiple investigations.

Yaroch admitted to planning a new life in Portugal, solicited guidance from ChatGPT on how to invest a million dollars, and approached a former DOJ colleague to confess, ultimately self-reporting after his concerns about the scheme "eating him up inside." The FBI placed him on leave and then terminated his employment; investigators seized his phone, which had access to a Kraken account, and seized a seed-phrase document. In court, officials noted additional personal debt payments funded by some of the proceeds.

The case is framed alongside earlier incidents of law-enforcement personnel committing cryptocurrency theft, including a 2024 Secret Service case and a 2015 Silk Road-related case, though those are distinct investigations. The article attributes these elements to the DOJ and court filings accompanying Yaroch’s guilty plea.