A former FBI agent has admitted moving about $2.47 million in crypto out of wallets tied to 35 bureau investigations. The plea total is far above his own July account, and sentencing on March 4, 2027, will show how the court treats that gap.
A former agent admits taking crypto from wallets in FBI cases
Bitcoin Magazine reported that Patrick Steven Yaroch, a 37-year-old from Ashburn, Virginia, admitted wire fraud and money laundering charges on Thursday. The outlet said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the plea, which was entered in federal court in Alexandria. Decrypt reported the same plea and attributed the announcement to the Justice Department. The maximum term is 20 years behind bars, and the sentencing hearing is set for March 4, 2027.
The Block put the stolen total at $2.47 million across wallets tied to 35 investigations. Its headline and summary also say Yaroch will pay at least $2.4 million in restitution and give up any future profits from telling his story.
How a counterintelligence post became a path to seized keys
Both Decrypt and Bitcoin Magazine describe the same career path. Yaroch was assigned to the bureau's Boston office between 2017 and early 2025, where his unit investigated an adversarial nation-state. Decrypt reported that he later joined the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, where prosecutors said he could use bureau databases containing cryptocurrency credentials gathered in investigations. Bitcoin Magazine adds that he held that headquarters role from February 2025 through July 31, 2026.
The reports say the thefts began no later than December 2024. Prosecutors say the coins came from wallets run by investigation subjects and by nation-state actors, as well as a wallet the FBI itself set up for an operation. Prosecutors say he afterward converted the proceeds into different cryptocurrencies and made additional transfers to conceal where the money came from.
The mechanism is simple in principle. Whoever holds a wallet's private key or seed phrase controls the funds, so credentials collected during an investigation are only as safe as the internal access controls around them.
The numbers in the plea and the affidavit
Bitcoin Magazine reported that court papers put the total at $2,474,380.66. Decrypt's account of the FBI affidavit supplies the recovery figures.
- About 100 fraudulent transfers used credentials from 35 separate FBI investigations, according to both Decrypt and Bitcoin Magazine.
- Between Nov. 25, 2025, and Jan. 13, 2026, about $93,082 went into one of his accounts, and funds were then shuffled to cover credit cards, car payments and loans, per Bitcoin Magazine.
- Decrypt said a Kraken account of his contained roughly $188,600, largely in dollars and the USDC stablecoin.
- Decrypt added that about $933,800 was held in Suilend, a lending protocol built on the Sui blockchain.
- Decrypt said agents shifted about $925,000 into wallets controlled by the government, but around $165,600 in dollars on Kraken could not be transferred in that manner.
Where the outlets agree and where they diverge
All three outlets report the guilty plea, the roughly $2.47 million total and the 35 investigations. Only Bitcoin Magazine and Decrypt give the March 2027 sentencing date, since The Block's available text is limited to its headline and summary. The differences lie in depth. The Block's coverage is limited to its headline and summary, so it adds only the restitution and forfeiture terms. Bitcoin Magazine supplies the case number, the prosecutors and the exact court-papers figure. Decrypt supplies the seized property and the exchange and lending balances.
The most important discrepancy is inside the case itself. Bitcoin Magazine said the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General flagged the matter in August and described about 10 moves totaling roughly $1 million. Decrypt cited the affidavit as saying Yaroch reported 10 to 12 transfers worth under $1 million. The plea figures are far larger. The outlets also describe his self-report slightly differently. Bitcoin Magazine said he told two department employees on July 29, 2026. Decrypt said he broke down while speaking to a former colleague at the Justice Department's National Security Division and then reported to FBI headquarters.
Decrypt also quoted the affidavit on his stated motive. Yaroch said he was frustrated that the bureau "could not or would not act" against an adversary's crypto accounts. Whether that explanation holds up against the plea facts is not addressed in the reports.
The Suilend trail and a plan to move to Portugal
Decrypt said that when agents searched Yaroch's home two days after his report, they took a Trezor hardware wallet, three passports and a paper with seed phrases written on it. It also said he reached Suilend through the Slush wallet app. The Sui token trades at $0.852543 and is down 20.2% over 30 days, according to CoinGecko, but none of the outlets links that move to the case. Sui has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion and ranks 29th.
The case shows that funds placed in lending protocols and exchange accounts can still be traced and moved to government wallets. Decrypt's account also shows the limits. Dollar balances sitting on an exchange could not be transferred the same way as on-chain assets.
Bitcoin Magazine, citing FOX 5 DC and the same U.S. Attorney's Office release, described planning for life in Portugal. According to the report, Yaroch put questions to ChatGPT about getting the best return on investments and about where in the European Union to settle. The chatbot proposed purchasing a vineyard, and on June 15, 2026, he authorized lawyers in Portugal to act for him through a power of attorney; he also booked a trip there for September 2026. Decrypt reported the same sequence.
Why the damage may extend beyond the dollar figure
Both Decrypt and Bitcoin Magazine said the agreed statement of facts describes harm to several FBI investigations that targeted criminal organizations and hostile states. The statement also says the techniques and sources the bureau relies on to gather foreign intelligence were put at risk. That makes the case less a theft story than a custody and insider-risk story.
Bitcoin Magazine placed the plea alongside other federal crypto-crime news. It also pointed to FBI estimates that American crypto fraud losses topped $11 billion in 2025, a number the White House has cited when describing a broader crackdown. The reports do not say whether the case will change how agencies store seized credentials.
Open questions after the plea
Bitcoin Magazine flagged the first open question: how sentencing will treat the distance between the July self-report and the $2.47 million plea figure. Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles will take that up on March 4, 2027.
The second is how many of the 35 affected FBI cases can be repaired. The Block's summary says restitution will be at least $2.4 million, but none of the outlets explains how that sum will be paid or divided. Readers following custody practices should watch for any Justice Department review of access to seized credentials.
Market snapshot
| Asset | Price | 24h | 7d | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $75,778 | -0.2% | -2.7% | $1.52 trillion |
| Sui (SUI) | $0.852543 | -2.3% | -6.2% | $3.53 billion |
CoinGecko data as of 2026-11-08 (UTC).
FAQ
How much crypto did the former FBI agent steal?
Prosecutors say Patrick Steven Yaroch took about $2.47 million. Bitcoin Magazine reported that court papers give the figure as $2,474,380.66, drawn from wallets tied to 35 FBI investigations.
When will Patrick Yaroch be sentenced?
Sentencing is scheduled for March 4, 2027, before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles. He admitted wire fraud and money laundering charges, which carry a maximum term of 20 years.
Was any of the stolen crypto recovered?
According to Decrypt, agents moved about $925,000 from his Kraken and Suilend accounts to government-controlled wallets. Decrypt said the same transfer method could not be used for approximately $165,600 in U.S. currency in his Kraken account.
Sources
- The Block: Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty to stealing $2.47 million in crypto from wallets tied to 35 investigations (2026-11-07)
- Bitcoin Magazine: Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2.47 Million in Crypto From Investigations (2026-11-06)
- Decrypt: Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $2.5M in Crypto From 35 Investigations (2026-11-06)
- CoinGecko (market data)
Written by the Coinvote news desk from reporting by The Block, Bitcoin Magazine and Decrypt. Not financial advice.
