FBI supervisor pleads guilty to $1M crypto theft from adversarial nation
In brief
- FBI supervisory agent Patrick Yaroch pleaded guilty to stealing $1M in crypto from an adversarial nation.
- Yaroch admitted to 10 unauthorized transfers between late 2024 and early 2025, depositing stolen assets into Suilend.
- He forfeited approximately $925,000 to government-controlled wallets after self-reporting.
The theft and confession
Yaroch admitted to 10 unauthorized transfers between late 2024 and early 2025 that involved an estimated total of $1 million in digital assets. He used internal FBI systems to obtain credentials for cryptocurrency wallets linked to the adversarial nation, then transferred funds to his own crypto wallets. Some of the stolen digital assets were deposited into Suilend to earn yield.
Yaroch self-reported the incident, a decision that led to his placement on administrative leave, subsequent termination, and arrest. FBI agents retrieved devices, seed phrases and a Trezor wallet from his Virginia residence to access his accounts on Suilend and crypto exchange Kraken.
Historical precedent in law enforcement
The Yaroch case follows a pattern of federal agents committing cryptocurrency theft. In 2015, former DEA special agent Carl M. Force diverted about $700,000 in Bitcoin before pleading guilty and being sentenced to six and a half years in prison. That same year, former US Secret Service special agent Shaun W. Bridges stole about $350,000 in BTC before pleading guilty and facing a six-year sentence. Both cases were tied to the investigation into dark net marketplace Silk Road.
The recurrence of these breaches underscores systemic vulnerabilities in how federal agencies manage access to cryptocurrency wallets and digital assets tied to sensitive investigations.
