A magistrate judge found probable cause Tuesday to move forward with a case against an FBI counterintelligence agent accused of stealing almost $1 million in cryptocurrency.
According to a federal complaint, Patrick Yaroch told investigators he became frustrated with the FBI and had been in possession of the cryptocurrency since last year.
Last week, Yaroch, 37, contacted an employee with the Department of Justice via the Signal app and asked to meet to discuss a personal matter. According to a complaint filed in federal court, the two met at FBI headquarters before moving the meeting across the street to the DOJ building.
“YAROCH decided to tell DOJ EMPLOYEE 1 about his actions because of the shame and he knew what he did was wrong,” the complaint said. “YAROCH said it was ‘eating him up inside,’ and he wanted to ‘get it off his chest.’ YAROCH inquired about criminal exposure. DOJ EMPLOYEE 1 instructed YAROCH that it was very serious, he should get a lawyer.”
“In approximately November 2024, during his investigative work, YAROCH was exposed to adversarial cryptocurrency accounts,” the complaint said. “At this point, YAROCH described himself as ‘spinning out of control.’ YAROCH claimed he was frustrated that the FBI could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts.”
The complaint does not specify which adversary the accounts belong to.
Yaroch, who is married with one child, according to the complaint, told FBI agents he “memorized the passphrases from adversarial accounts,” the complaint said. “YAROCH decided to ‘take matters into his own hands’ and transferred funds from the adversarial cryptocurrency accounts to his personal wallet.”
The complaint says in late 2024 or early 2025, Yaroch began transferring the cryptocurrency 10-12 times.
As the FBI began investigating Yaroch’s story, it filed search warrants for his home, computers, phones and car and found a question Yaroch allegedly asked ChatGPT, according to the complaint.
“On June 4, 2026, YAROCH asked ChatGPT, ‘If you had a bucket of money (around $1 million) and you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen of an EU country, what would you do?’” the complaint said. “ChatGPT responded, ‘Given everything you’ve told me … Option 1: Portugal (my top choice for your specific situation).’”
The judge Tuesday had trouble deciding whether to release Yaroch from custody, indicating she may release him to a third party but wants more information first. Yaroch will spend at least one more night in the Alexandria city jail.
At one point in Yaroch’s hearing, he turned to look at his wife and parents, then turned back around, buried his head in his hands and wept.
