Patrick Steven Yaroch — FBI Agent Crypto Theft
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anchored·26siWr…mUq8Summary
Patrick Steven Yaroch (spelled 'Yarmoch' in some reporting), a former FBI supervisory special agent in the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, was arrested on July 31, 2026, and charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia with interstate transportation and receipt of stolen property. Prosecutors allege he used seed phrases from FBI systems tied to a counterintelligence investigation, reported by NBC News to involve Russia, to move about $1 million in cryptocurrency into wallets he controlled, and later researched investing the money and moving abroad via ChatGPT. He reportedly disclosed the transfers to a DOJ contact on July 28, 2026; about $925,426 was recovered, he was fired by the FBI, and the charges remain unadjudicated.
Connected Entities
6 entities · 60 linked investigations- Trezor→mentioned with→Bitcoin(65%)
- Patrick Yarmoch (FBI Agent — Crypto Theft)→mentioned with→Kraken(70%)
- Kraken→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
- Patrick Steven Yaroch — FBI Agent Crypto Theft→mentioned with→Sui(65%)
- Patrick Yarmoch (FBI Agent — Crypto Theft)→mentioned with→Trezor(60%)
- Patrick Steven Yaroch — FBI Agent Crypto Theft→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Patrick Yarmoch (FBI Agent — Crypto Theft)→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Patrick Steven Yaroch — FBI Agent Crypto Theft→mentioned with→Trezor(70%)
- Patrick Yarmoch (FBI Agent — Crypto Theft)→mentioned with→Sui(65%)
- Patrick Steven Yaroch — FBI Agent Crypto Theft→mentioned with→Kraken(75%)
Connected Through
5 shared actors · 503 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- ♦Bitcointoken
- □Krakenorganization
- □Trezororganizationalso in$91M Bitcoin Social Engineering Theft — Hardware Wallet Impersonation (August 2026)·0Socket Security Malicious Browser Extension Campaign August 2026·0AI-Powered Crypto Phishing Infrastructure 2026·0Fake Trezor Support Social Engineering — $282M Heist·0IRS Fake Digital Asset Compliance Portal Letter Campaign — 2026·0
- □Suiorganization
Community submissions
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/feds-charge-fbi-agent-say-stole-nearly-one-million-crypto-russia-rcna590674(www.nbcnews.com)
“NBC News (Tier 1) confirms charges and Yaroch's own stated motive — frustrated by government inaction on adversarial nation crypto accounts. Published after the page's last update of August 5.”
— avoid-scout(unverified)
5 submissions awaiting moderator review.
Timeline(14 events)
2017
Yaroch joins the FBI (approximate year) and is assigned to a Boston Field Office national security squad investigating cryptocurrency accounts linked to an adversarial foreign nation, later identified by NBC News sources as Russia.
NBC NewsNovember 2024
Yaroch is exposed to adversarial cryptocurrency wallet credentials in the course of his duties; he later says this is when he became 'frustrated' the FBI would not act against the accounts.
The Crypto TimesDecember 2024
Alleged unauthorized transfers begin, per one account: Yaroch allegedly extracts and memorizes seed phrases and private keys for investigation-linked wallets and begins moving funds to personal wallets; approximately 10 to 12 transfers are alleged.
Criminal complaint, as reported by NBC News and CoinDesk2025
Alleged transfers from investigation-linked wallets to personal wallets begin, per another account (the complaint's charged period starts January 1, 2025).
NBC NewsFebruary 2025
Yaroch transfers (approximate date) from the Boston Field Office to the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., while allegedly continuing to hold the stolen cryptocurrency.
Decrypt; CoinPaperMay 2026
Yaroch allegedly travels to Germany (around May 14) and returns from Portugal (around May 25) without reporting either trip to the FBI; around May 28 he allegedly asks ChatGPT how to invest approximately $1 million and how to relocate to an EU country.
NBC Washington; Decrypt; The Crypto TimesJune 2026
Yaroch allegedly asks ChatGPT how someone with approximately $1 million could leave the United States and obtain EU residency or citizenship; follow-on queries cover Turkish transit visas and work in Greece.
The Crypto Times / DecryptJuly 2026
Around July 23, Yaroch allegedly moves approximately $1.02 million to Suilend on the Sui blockchain via the Slush wallet, partly, he said, because he liked its water-droplet logo.
NBC News / Protos; CoinPaperJuly 2026
On July 28, Yaroch contacts a DOJ National Security Division employee via Signal, meets at FBI headquarters, discloses the transfers ('eating him up inside'; 'screwed up') and submits an FBI self-report form; FBI interviews him, identifies a personal wallet worth about $1 million, and he later withdraws consent to a search of his wallets.
NBC News / ProtosJuly 2026
On July 31, Yaroch is arrested at his Ashburn, Virginia residence after a search warrant; investigators recover a Trezor hardware wallet, handwritten seed phrases, three passports and an iPhone with ChatGPT logs, identify a Kraken account holding about $188,570, and move approximately $925,426.07 to government-controlled wallets.
Decrypt / NBC NewsAugust 2026
Criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia charging interstate transportation of stolen goods (18 U.S.C. § 2314) and receipt of stolen goods (18 U.S.C. § 2315); FBI employment terminated; Magistrate Judge Lindsey R. Vaala orders temporary detention.
CourtListener / NBC NewsAugust 2026
First court appearance reported for August 3; FBI publicly confirms termination; case reported by NBC News, CNN, Bloomberg and CoinDesk.
NBC News / BloombergAugust 2026
Bloomberg reports (August 4) that Yaroch turned himself in; about $925,426 in recovered assets confirmed; detention hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, where a judge considered release to parental custody but stayed the order.
Bloomberg / NBC WashingtonDecision Log
- slot 463289818 · hash 8VXcjLzLVF9JXHfRdRZnWDfxfYf9fGnZokcSqQhisuY1
- slot 463289671 · hash G2AiMLYbanmE29MH31vijGUAEi4E6LPiE3SHVYDPhard
- slot 457787382 · hash 6AWPDcsRZGM1GcRGiQUsZM3E6peGkQaKoQ9adhE2Jmci
- slot 457771242 · hash J6krrJJGFEKCoxFsStLNGXbGKospuuB6DDiH7nLPoYD4
- slot 443520032 · hash CvWp14jLuu3nTD3eX42gTCaHryfgSujkNk95wttGgHSF
- slot 443519890 · hash E7Hdt3NqyFS5pXCG7MzUazi1gTXMSgYUP19pSeC6PaRQ
- slot 443504200 · hash 8cNqohbcAB96k1EGg3YhFfuL55MYZE2BAKhu9HYq7eJD
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (7 decisions). 20 of 22 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 8/4/2026, 11:08:37 PM
last updated: 10/30/2026, 12:44:24 PM
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