A senior FBI counterintelligence agent with top-secret clearance has admitted stealing nearly $1 million (£745,000) in cryptocurrency from wallets he was assigned to investigate, then asked ChatGPT how to leave the US and start over in Europe, court records show.
Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, worked at FBI headquarters in the bureau's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division after years on a Boston national-security squad tracking an unnamed adversary nation. He was arrested on 31 July and detained in Alexandria, Virginia. A criminal complaint against him was unsealed on Monday.
'Frustrated' Agent Who Turned Himself In
According to an FBI affidavit, Yaroch confessed to a colleague on 28 July that he had repeatedly taken crypto from 'adversarial' wallets using information pulled from FBI systems. He said the guilt was eating him up inside and that he had 'screwed up', later filing an online self-report form and meeting bureau personnel in person to explain himself.
Investigators say his frustration drove the scheme. Unable to disrupt a foreign target's crypto activity, Yaroch created his own wallet in late 2024, memorised recovery phrases tied to accounts he was investigating, and moved the funds to himself across 10 to 12 transfers. He told agents he never spent the money, and the affidavit says he never contacted anyone linked to the accounts.
The ChatGPT Escape Plan
The detail that sets the case apart sits in Yaroch's phone. Agents recovered a series of ChatGPT conversations, including one from June in which he asked how someone with 'a bucket of money' could leave the US and become a resident or citizen of an EU country.
The chatbot's reply was tailored to his life. It referenced a 37-year-old with a young family, a goal of retiring near 40, and a wish to build a 'slower-living' vineyard lifestyle in Portugal or southern Italy, repeatedly pointing him towards Portugal. Days earlier he had asked how to invest $1 million for maximum return. Later queries covered visa rules for a Turkey connection and help drafting an email about a job in Greece.
Flights, Lawyers, and Undisclosed Trips
The affidavit says agents found flights booked for Yaroch, his wife, and their child to Portugal in September, plus paperwork granting power of attorney to two Portuguese lawyers to set him up with a local tax identification number. Investigators also flagged undisclosed trips to Germany, Portugal, and Grenada between May and July, travel he was required to report and did not.
What Agents Seized
During a search of his home, Yaroch handed over his FBI credentials and wallet details, then withdrew consent about half an hour later. Agents still recovered a Trezor hardware wallet, handwritten seed phrases, and a Kraken account holding roughly $188,570 (£140,400). About $925,000 (£689,000) in crypto was moved to government-controlled wallets, though prosecutors note the funds were mixed with his own money, so the recovered total does not fix the exact amount taken.
Yaroch faces charges of interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods. 'As soon as the FBI became aware of these allegations, we immediately took action, began an investigation, and ultimately executed an arrest warrant,' the bureau said. The case shows how the same AI tools millions use for everyday tasks now surface as evidence, and how the people trusted to guard the system can turn on it.
