Feds charge ‘frustrated’ FBI agent they say stole nearly $1 million in crypto from Russia

The FBI supervisory special agent believed the FBI “could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts,” prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON — An FBI supervisor detailed to the U.S. intelligence community faces two federal charges accusing him of transferring nearly $1 million from cryptocurrency accounts tied to an adversarial nation into his personal cryptocurrency wallet.

Patrick Yaroch was charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods after he told a Justice Department employee that he became “frustrated” the FBI “could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts,” according to court documents. Yaroch is reported to have said he was upset he could not do more to disrupt cryptocurrency use by an adversarial nation during an investigation.

The adversarial nation was Russia, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

A federal public defender representing Yaroch declined to comment.

Yaroch said he made some very poor decisions, according to an FBI affidavit: “Yaroch said that he went into FBI systems and found keys needed to transfer money from wallets to himself.”