FBI agent allegedly memorized seed phrases, then asked ChatGPT how to flee 🇪🇺

A former FBI supervisory special agent has been charged with stealing roughly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to FBI counterintelligence investigations and later consulting ChatGPT about how to invest and expatriate the proceeds. Patrick Steven Yaroch was charged Friday with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods. Prosecutors allege the thefts occurred between early 2025 and July 2026 while Yaroch worked in the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division and held a Top Secret security clearance.

According to investigators, Yaroch admitted he accessed FBI systems to obtain cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases connected to investigations involving an unnamed foreign adversary. He allegedly memorized the recovery phrases, created his own wallet, and transferred funds into accounts under his control about 10 times. He told investigators the holdings eventually grew to about $1 million. During searches of his home and devices, investigators recovered a Trezor hardware wallet and handwritten cryptocurrency seed phrases.

A Kraken account tied to Yaroch held a balance of about $188,570, including roughly $166,000 in U.S. dollars, nearly $18,000 in USDC, and small amounts of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to the affidavit. Investigators also recovered several ChatGPT conversations from his phone. On May 28 he asked how to invest or spend $1 million "to maximize profit and return." Less than a week later he asked what someone with about $1 million should do to leave the U.S. and become a resident or citizen of a European Union country. Later queries covered transit through Turkey, help drafting a follow-up email about a job opportunity and life in Greece, and a planned family trip to Portugal.

Yaroch was arrested on July 31. The charging document describes an encounter two days earlier, on July 28, 2026, in which he contacted a DOJ employee via Signal and asked to meet at FBI headquarters. "Upon meeting DOJ Employee 1 at FBI headquarters, Yaroch immediately started to break down as he told his story," prosecutors wrote. When agents raised the recovered power-of-attorney documents related to Portugal, "Yaroch stated he was not planning to funnel money into Portugal," according to the complaint, adding that "his family had a trip planned to Portugal in September 2026 to meet friends."