Former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles has been ordered to repay £1,810,678, which is approximately $2.4 million. The court issued this confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 following his conviction for stealing 50 Bitcoin during a dark web investigation.
Chowles, 44, was part of the team investigating the Silk Road 2.0 marketplace. In May 2017, he extracted 50 Bitcoin from a seized wallet, which was valued at roughly £60,000 or $77,000 at the time. He attempted to hide the theft by using the Bitcoin Fog mixing service and cashing out through debit cards.
The theft remained unsolved for years, with the missing funds initially blamed on marketplace operator Thomas White. In 2022, police discovered devices containing private keys at the home of Chowles. Investigators from Merseyside Police and Chainalysis successfully traced the transactions.
Chowles pleaded guilty to theft and concealing criminal property. In July 2025, he was sentenced to five years and six months in prison by Liverpool Crown Court and subsequently dismissed from the National Crime Agency. The current repayment order accounts for the significant appreciation of Bitcoin since 2017.
