Key Highlights
- Former NCA officer Paul Chowles was ordered to repay £1.8 million over Bitcoin stolen during a criminal investigation.
- Chowles stole around 50 BTC from cryptocurrency seized from Silk Road 2.0-linked trafficker Thomas White.
- Chowles was previously sentenced to five and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering.
A former UK National Crime Agency (NCA) officer has been ordered to repay £1.8 million ($2.39 million) after stealing Bitcoin that had been seized during an investigation linked to the dark-web marketplace Silk Road 2.0.
According to a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) report published on September 30, Paul Chowles, 44, from Bristol, was previously sentenced to five and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering.
The latest proceedings concern 30 BTC recovered from Chowles, which had increased significantly in value between the time of the theft and the confiscation order.
Bitcoin taken from seized cryptocurrency
Chowles was part of an NCA team investigating cryptocurrency recovered from devices seized during an investigation involving Thomas White, who was convicted in 2019 of operating Silk Road 2.0.
Authorities had recovered 97 BTC connected to White. Investigators later discovered that around 50 BTC had been removed from the seized holdings.
The investigation found that Chowles had taken the Bitcoin in 2017 and moved it through multiple transactions.
Merseyside Police subsequently investigated the missing cryptocurrency, leading to Chowles’ arrest in May 2022. Authorities later recovered 30 BTC from him.
Recovered bitcoin increased in value
The amount of Bitcoin recovered from Chowles remained at 30 BTC, but its value changed substantially over the following years.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the 50 BTC were worth approximately £60,000 ($79,600) when they were stolen in 2017. The 30 BTC later recovered from Chowles were included in the £1.81 million ($2.39 million) confiscation order.
The difference reflects the change in Bitcoin’s market value between the recovery of the assets and the later confiscation proceedings.
Court issues £1.8M confiscation order
The confiscation order is separate from Chowles’ earlier prison sentence and concerns the recovery of assets connected to his offences.
Luke Clements of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division said:
“Confiscation Orders are a powerful tool in ensuring that crime does not pay.”
The order means the value of the recovered cryptocurrency is now subject to the proceeds-of-crime process.
Case highlights crypto custody risks
The case also illustrates the security issues that can arise when law enforcement agencies take control of cryptocurrency during investigations.
Chowles had access to the seized assets as part of his work extracting and analysing cryptocurrency from devices. The subsequent removal of Bitcoin highlights the importance of controlling private keys and recording movements of seized digital assets.
Unlike physical evidence, cryptocurrency can be transferred between wallets without requiring physical access to an asset. Investigators therefore need systems for securing wallet credentials and tracking transactions throughout the evidence-handling process.
Blockchain records can also assist investigators in tracing the movement of cryptocurrency after it has been transferred between addresses.
Courts continue to address crypto in criminal cases
The Chowles case is part of a broader body of criminal proceedings involving Bitcoin and other digital assets.
In June 2026, a court in Qingdao, China, sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for stealing 107 BTC. The case was reported in a summary published by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which described Bitcoin as property protected under criminal law.
The legal treatment of cryptocurrency differs between jurisdictions, but digital assets are increasingly appearing in criminal investigations, asset-recovery proceedings and confiscation cases.
In the UK case, the latest order addresses the financial value of the Bitcoin recovered from Chowles and represents the latest stage in proceedings stemming from the 2017 theft.
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