An F.B.I. counterintelligence agent has been charged with amassing about $1 million worth of cryptocurrency, largely by making unauthorized withdrawals from a criminal target overseas, according to court papers.
Patrick Yaroch, a supervisory agent who works in Washington, confessed what he had done late last week after having a crisis of conscience, according to an affidavit filed in his case.
“Yaroch told others that he stole the cryptocurrency,” the affidavit said. He told an unnamed Justice Department employee about it because it was “eating him up inside,” and he wanted to “get it off his chest,” the affidavit said.
Mr. Yaroch said he was unsure how much money he had taken, because it was mixed with his other personal assets, but told others it involved less than a million dollars. When investigators looked at his crypto wallet, where he had deposited the money, they found “approximately one million dollars.”
The agent claimed he had begun taking the money in late 2024 or early 2025, and made 10 or 12 withdrawals in total, using a pass phrase to the suspect’s account that the F.B.I. had obtained during its investigation of the individual.
Mr. Yaroch, according to the charging papers, told colleagues that he had been “spinning out of control” and was “frustrated that the F.B.I. could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts.”
The agent had been cooperating with investigators and told them he planned to keep talking to them on Monday, once he had spoken to a lawyer. F.B.I. officials decided over the weekend to search his home and arrest him, on charges of possession of stolen property.
An F.B.I. spokesman said the agency immediately took action upon learning of the allegations, promptly fired the agent, and is conducting a “thorough investigation” of the case.
Mr. Yaroch has not yet been charged with stealing the cryptocurrency, which is probably a reflection of the speed of the investigation, as the authorities raced to arrest him over the weekend even as they say he was preparing to cooperate further. Court records do not yet indicate a lawyer representing Mr. Yaroch.
The authorities said in court papers that a search of the agent’s internet activity showed that in May, he had asked ChatGPT to recommend how to invest a million dollars with “a goal of potentially retiring around 40, and a clear interest in eventually building a slower-living vineyard/agricultural lifestyle in places like Cilento or Portugal’s Dao region.”
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