THE EX-NCA OFFICER WHO STOLE 50 SEIZED BITCOIN IS ORDERED TO REPAY £1.81 MILLION — HE MOVED THEM FROM A SUSPECT’S WALLET WHOSE KEYS THE AGENCY HELD — THEY WERE WORTH £59,409 IN MAY 2017 — 30 HAVE BEEN RECOVERED

The Crown Prosecution Service said on September 30, 2026 that former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles has been ordered to pay £1,810,678.93 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He was sentenced to five years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2025 for stealing 50 bitcoin the agency had seized.

The coins were part of 97 BTC the NCA seized in the case against Thomas White, tied to the Silk Road 2.0 dark web market. On May 6 and 7, 2017, 50 of them left White's "retirement wallet" in two transactions and went through the mixer Bitcoin Fog. They were worth £59,409 then. White spotted it. The CPS says he knew "it had to be someone within the NCA because they had the private keys."

Chowles was the officer who "took the lead in the analysis and extraction of relevant data and cryptocurrency from the devices seized." Notebooks found at his arrest held account credentials. 30 BTC have been recovered. The court also made a compensation order for White, and that money goes toward White's own outstanding confiscation order. Chowles pays White, and White's share goes straight back to the state.

Seizure did not change what the coins were. They sat in a wallet whose keys the agency held, and one officer with those keys could move them. Whoever holds the keys holds the bitcoin, badge or no badge. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $83,995.