FBI's Own Antiterror Vet Stole $1M in Crypto, Then Asked ChatGPT How to Flee 🇵🇹

A former FBI supervisory special agent has been charged with stealing approximately $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to FBI counterintelligence investigations, and later consulted ChatGPT on how to invest the proceeds and relocate to Europe. Patrick Steven Yaroch was charged Friday with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods.

According to court documents, the alleged thefts occurred between early 2025 and July 2026 while Yaroch worked in the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division under a Top Secret security clearance. Prosecutors allege Yaroch accessed FBI systems to retrieve cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases linked to investigations involving an unnamed foreign adversary, memorized the recovery phrases, created his own wallet, and transferred funds to accounts under his control about 10 times. He told investigators the holdings eventually grew to roughly $1 million, including $BTC, USDC and other tokens.

During searches of his Virginia residence and devices, agents recovered a Trezor hardware wallet, handwritten cryptocurrency seed phrases, and a Kraken account holding about $188,570 — roughly $166,000 in U.S. dollars, nearly $18,000 in USDC, plus small amounts of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Investigators also found that Yaroch had deposited funds into Suilend to earn yield. With his cooperation, agents transferred approximately $925,000 to government-controlled wallets.

A separate court filing indicates Yaroch confessed to 10 unauthorized transfers between late 2024 and early 2025. He was placed on administrative leave last Wednesday, terminated, and arrested on Friday. According to the affidavit, the breakdown occurred on July 28, 2026, when Yaroch contacted a DOJ employee via Signal and requested to meet at FBI headquarters, where he "immediately started to break down as he told his story."

Investigators recovered multiple ChatGPT conversations from Yaroch's phone. On May 28, he asked how he should invest or spend $1 million "to maximize profit and return," and ChatGPT suggested "building a slower-living vineyard/agricultural lifestyle in places like Cilento or Portugal's Dão region." 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. Subsequent queries covered visa requirements when connecting through Turkey, drafting a follow-up email about a job opportunity and life in Greece, and evidence of a planned family trip to Portugal, power-of-attorney documents related to Portugal, and previously unreported foreign travel.

Prosecutors noted that after agents mentioned the Portugal power-of-attorney forms, "Yaroch stated he was not planning to funnel money into Portugal" and said his family had a September 2026 trip planned "to meet friends," adding that he hoped his wife and child would still attend even if he could not. Yaroch's case follows prior convictions of former DEA special agent Carl M. Force, who diverted about $700,000 in Bitcoin tied to the Silk Road investigation and was sentenced to six and a half years, and former U.S. Secret Service special agent Shaun W. Bridges, who stole about $350,000 in BTC in the same probe and received a six-year sentence.