FBI Agent Stole $2.5 Million In Crypto, Planned Portuguese Vineyard With ChatGPT

Patrick Steven Yaroch had a plan for his future. He wanted to leave the United States, move to Europe with his family, and perhaps buy a vineyard where he could enjoy good red wine and a slower pace of life.

I mean, who among us hasn’t thought about it?

But for Yaroch, there was one problem: He was financing those plans with cryptocurrency he had stolen using confidential information from his job at the FBI.

From FBI Investigations To Personal Wallets

Yaroch, 37, a former FBI supervisory special agent, pleaded guilty on November 5, 2026, to wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from a scheme in which he stole approximately $2.47 million in cryptocurrency.

Yaroch’s positions, including a stint in the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, gave him access to sensitive government information, including systems that stored cryptocurrency credentials collected during investigations. Cryptocurrency wallets rely on credentials, such as private keys or recovery information, that allow control of digital assets. These credentials can be valuable to investigators tracing criminal activity, but they also pose a security risk if they fall into the wrong hands.

Yaroch searched FBI systems for cryptocurrency credentials and used them to transfer funds from wallets monitored by the agency into wallets he personally controlled. He didn’t limit himself to large balances. According to the Statement of Facts filed with his plea agreement, his individual thefts ranged from just 81 cents to more than $580,000.

Over the course of the scheme, he made approximately 100 fraudulent transfers from at least 79 cryptocurrency wallets. Those transfers involved credentials associated with 35 separate FBI investigations and at least 10 victims. Some of the wallets belonged to investigative targets, including actors associated with adversarial nation states. Others were connected to victims of other crimes whose cryptocurrency credentials were stored in FBI systems. He also stole cryptocurrency from at least one wallet the FBI had established for an operation.

He didn’t stop monitoring those wallets after taking the money. According to court documents, he continued searching FBI systems for information that might reveal whether his unauthorized transfers had been detected.

Following The Crypto

Stealing cryptocurrency was only part of the scheme. After transferring stolen cryptocurrency into his own wallets, he exchanged it for other digital assets and moved it through additional transactions intended to obscure its source, ownership, and movement. One method involved converting Bitcoin into Monero, a cryptocurrency designed to provide greater transaction privacy. Unlike Bitcoin, which records transactions on a publicly viewable blockchain, Monero obscures details about senders, recipients, and amounts.

Yaroch also used a virtual-asset swapping service that could facilitate exchanges across different blockchains without requiring users to create accounts or provide personal identifying information. The Statement of Facts describes cryptocurrency moving through Bitcoin, Monero, Solana, and Sui before some of the proceeds reached accounts at Kraken and, eventually, traditional bank accounts.

The money-laundering charge specifically involved a November 7, 2025, transaction in which Yaroch exchanged Bitcoin for Monero to conceal the proceeds of his wire fraud.

Not all of the stolen money remained in cryptocurrency. Between November 25, 2025, and January 13, 2026, Yaroch transferred approximately $93,082 into one of his TD Bank accounts. He then moved funds between accounts and made payments toward several debts, including approximately $30,176 on JPMorgan Chase credit cards, $20,000 toward a Lexus payment, and payments on other loans. Before the scheme began, Yaroch had taken out three loans totaling more than $100,000 and had accumulated over $45,000 in credit card balances. But his ambitions went beyond paying down debt.

ChatGPT, A Vineyard, And A New Life In Portugal

On May 28, 2026, Yaroch asked ChatGPT: If I had a million dollars, how would you suggest investing it/spending it to maximize profit and return

The response, quoted in court documents, cited his age, young family, interest in retiring around 40, and desire for a slower lifestyle involving a vineyard or agricultural property in Europe. The conversation suggests Yaroch had already shared his interest in living on an agricultural estate in Italy or Portugal.

On June 4, Yaroch returned with another question: If you had a hunk 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?

This time, the response referenced Yaroch’s family, his interest in red wine, and his desire for a two-to-five-hectare property where he could actually live. ChatGPT recommended Portugal as its top choice for his circumstances.

Less than two weeks later, he gave two Portuguese lawyers power of attorney to represent him before Portugal’s Tax and Customs Authority, obtain a Portuguese tax identification number, and arrange access to the country’s online finance portal. He also made arrangements to travel to Portugal in September 2026 in connection with his intended vineyard purchase.

That might have given him a new view, but not a tax-free lifestyle. Moving abroad doesn’t necessarily eliminate U.S. tax obligations. U.S. citizens and resident aliens are generally subject to U.S. tax on their worldwide income, even when living overseas.

The Real Cost Of The Theft

There was far more at stake than the money. According to the Statement of Facts, Yaroch’s actions compromised multiple FBI investigations involving criminal groups and foreign adversaries.

By transferring cryptocurrency from wallets the agency was monitoring, he interfered with investigators’ ability to track financial transactions, identify additional accounts, disrupt criminal activity, and potentially recover stolen assets for victims. His activities also exposed FBI investigative efforts to some of the very targets the agency was monitoring, compromising sources and methods used in criminal investigations and foreign intelligence collection.

Sentencing Planned For 2027

Yaroch’s plans for Portugal never materialized. On July 31, 2026, FBI agents executed a search warrant. According to court documents, Yaroch had deleted a mobile cryptocurrency wallet app called Slush from his phone, but he agreed to let investigators reinstall it and directed them to some of the stolen proceeds. He also signed a consent form authorizing the FBI to transfer funds from several cryptocurrency wallets and accounts under his control.

As part of his plea agreement, Yaroch agreed to pay at least $2.4 million in restitution, with the final amount to be determined by the court. He also agreed to a forfeiture money judgment of at least $2.4 million and the forfeiture of identified cryptocurrency and financial assets. The plea agreement identifies approximately 1.376 million Sui tokens and nearly 18,000 USDC seized by the FBI, along with funds held in bank, brokerage, and cryptocurrency accounts. It also requires Yaroch to cooperate with a financial investigation, including providing or authorizing the release of five years of tax returns.

Even a lucrative book or movie deal wouldn’t necessarily help fund a different retirement plan. Under the agreement, Yaroch assigns to the United States profits from publications or other publicity relating to his FBI work or the circumstances of his apprehension and conviction.

Yaroch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2027. Each of the two charges carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, though the actual sentence will be determined by the court after considering the applicable sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

The vineyard was supposed to represent a new beginning. Instead, Yaroch’s new life will look very different.