An FBI agent stole $1 million in crypto from enemies because the agency wouldn't do it — now it's 'eating him up inside'

According to a court affidavit, Yaroch served as an FBI Supervisory Special Agent in the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division between February 2025 and July 31 of this year. It notes that on July 28, Yaroch met with an FBI colleague and “started to break down” as he admitted “that he made some very poor decisions related to cryptocurrency wallets” — including transferring cryptocurrency from an adversarial nation’s accounts to his own. NBC News identified the adversarial nation as Russia, but the FBI did not confirm.

“Yaroch investigated an individual from Adversarial Nation 1 and became frustrated when he could not do more to disrupt this individual’s use of cryptocurrency,” the affidavit says. It added that he made 10 to 12 transactions beginning “in late 2024 or early 2025” and that the FBI eventually seized $925,426.07 worth of cryptocurrency from Yaroch’s wallets.

An FBI spokesperson told Moneywise that they “immediately took action” upon learning of the allegations against Yaroch, including terminating his employment and arresting him last week, adding that such conduct is not tolerated by the FBI.

“We are conducting a thorough investigation in the aftermath,” they added, “and as this is an ongoing matter, we will have no further comment.”

FBI search points to ChatGPT queries about spending $1 million and moving to Europe

The affidavit noted that Yaroch couldn’t pinpoint how much money he’d taken, as “it was co-mingled with his other personal assets,” but that he never interacted with anyone associated with the accounts in question.

It goes on to say that Yaroch knew “he screwed up” but had been “spinning out of control” over his belief that “the FBI could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts.” As such, he decided to “take matters into his own hands.”

Investigators also cited ChatGPT searches that they discovered on Yaroch’s phone.

They allege that on multiple occasions in May and June of this year, Yaroch asked the AI chatbot questions about how to spend a million dollars, including tips to “maximize profit and return” and what to do with the money if “you wanted to leave the USA and become a resident or citizen of an EU country.”

The responses included retiring and moving his “young family” to Europe while considering “a slower-living vineyard/agricultural lifestyle in places like Cilento or Portugal’s Dão region.”

Investigators added that Yaroch travelled to Germany, Portugal and Grenada between May and July of this year but did not report it, despite the security requirement to do so.