Key Takeaways
Former FBI supervisory special agent Patrick Steven Yaroch is charged with stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to the bureau's own counterintelligence investigations.
Prosecutors say he memorized wallet seed phrases from FBI systems, transferred funds into his own accounts about 10 times starting in early 2025, and confessed at FBI headquarters on July 28.
ChatGPT logs recovered from his phone show him asking how to invest $1 million and how to become a resident of an EU country in the weeks before his July 31 arrest.
A former FBI supervisory special agent is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he stole nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to the bureau's own investigations, then asked ChatGPT how to invest the money and start a new life in Europe.
Patrick Steven Yaroch was charged in federal court in Virginia with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods, Decrypt reported. According to the criminal complaint, Yaroch worked in the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division with a Top Secret clearance. Investigators say he accessed FBI systems to obtain seed phrases for crypto wallets connected to investigations involving a foreign adversary, memorized the recovery words, and moved funds into his own wallets about 10 times between early 2025 and July 2026.
The scheme ended with a confession. On July 28, Yaroch messaged a Justice Department employee over Signal asking to meet, and at FBI headquarters he "immediately started to break down as he told his story," prosecutors wrote. Agents searching his home found a Trezor hardware wallet, handwritten seed phrases, and a Kraken account holding about $188,570. He was arrested July 31, NBC News reported.
The ChatGPT trail is the part worth sitting with. In late May he asked the chatbot how to invest $1 million for the best return. Days later he asked what someone with that much money should do to leave the US and become a citizen of an EU country. Later chats covered transit visas through Turkey and a job opportunity in Greece.
AI keeps showing up on both sides of the fraud file, from the four Minnesota men who used ChatGPT to fake $2.2 million in Medicaid records to FBI recoveries like the $32 million Elaine Escoe case. This one adds a new entry: the agent trusted with the evidence, asking a chatbot how to spend it.
People Also Ask
What is former FBI agent Patrick Yaroch charged with?
He is charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods over the alleged theft of nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to FBI counterintelligence investigations.
How did the FBI agent allegedly steal the cryptocurrency?
Prosecutors say Yaroch used his access to FBI systems to view wallet seed phrases collected in investigations, memorized them, recreated the wallets on his own devices, and transferred the funds to accounts he controlled about 10 times.
What did Yaroch ask ChatGPT?
Recovered chats show he asked how to invest or spend roughly $1 million for the best return, then asked how someone with that money could leave the US and become a resident or citizen of an EU country.
How much of the stolen crypto was recovered?
Investigators found a Kraken account holding about $188,570 along with a Trezor hardware wallet and handwritten seed phrases. Yaroch told investigators his holdings had grown to about $1 million.