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FBI agent arrested for alleged theft of $1M in crypto
Court filings say the counterintelligence agent allegedly made multiple transfers from crypto wallets tied to foreign individuals and used exchange and DeFi services, including Kraken and Sui-based lending via Suilend.
An FBI counterintelligence agent with top secret clearance was arrested and fired after being accused of stealing about $1 million in cryptocurrency from wallets belonging to people investigated by the agency, according to court filings cited by CoinDesk.
The filings describe the agent, identified as Patrick Steven Yarmoch, as turning himself in to colleagues and admitting he had obtained crypto keys from FBI systems, leading to as many as a dozen transfers to himself from accounts tied to foreign individuals under investigation.
CoinDesk reports that investigators found he used accounts with Kraken and the Sui blockchain decentralized finance ecosystem, Suilend, via a Slush wallet, and that searches of his computer and phone showed questions submitted to AI apps about leaving the United States and relocating to an EU country.
The court materials also allege he had travel plans for himself and his family to go to Portugal next month and that he took recent trips to Germany, Portugal, and Grenada that he did not report internally.