FBI Crypto Heist Unearths a ChatGPT Plot: “Take Matters Into His Own Hands” 💸

A former FBI agent pleaded guilty to stealing about $2.47 million in cryptocurrency from wallets linked to 35 bureau investigations, according to the Justice Department. Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, admitted wire fraud and money laundering in federal court in Alexandria on November 5, 2026. He faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2027.

Yaroch worked at the FBI’s Boston Division from 2017 to early 2025 on a squad investigating an unnamed “adversarial nation state,” before joining the bureau’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. Beginning no later than December 2024, prosecutors said, he used access to FBI systems to take credentials from cases involving criminal groups, nation-state actors and at least one wallet created by the FBI for an operation. He then made about 100 fraudulent transfers, converted the stolen funds into other cryptocurrencies and conducted additional transactions to obscure their origin.

Prosecutors said Yaroch used some of the proceeds to pay credit cards, car payments and other loans. He also sought advice from ChatGPT on maximizing investment profits and choosing a place to live in the European Union; after the chatbot recommended buying a vineyard in Portugal, he gave Portuguese lawyers power of attorney to obtain a tax identification number and arranged to travel to Portugal in September.

Yaroch turned himself in after breaking down to a former colleague in the Justice Department’s National Security Division on July 29. In an FBI affidavit, he said he had made “very poor decisions” involving crypto wallets and explained that frustration with the bureau’s response to an adversary’s crypto accounts had led him to “take matters into his own hands.” His actions compromised multiple FBI investigations, sources and methods used in foreign intelligence collection.

Separate court documents said a former FBI supervisory special agent had been charged with stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets tied to FBI counterintelligence investigations. On Friday, Patrick Steven Yaroch was charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods.