A UK court has ordered former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles to repay £1,810,678.93, approximately $2.4 million, following his theft of 50 Bitcoin from a confiscated wallet. The Crown Prosecution Service secured the confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on Wednesday.
Chowles, 44, of Bristol, stole the Bitcoin from a wallet seized during an investigation into Silk Road 2.0, a dark web marketplace. The coins were worth roughly £60,000, or $77,000, when he took them in May 2017. Thirty of the 50 BTC were recovered, with the confiscation order reflecting their current value as well as the appreciation of Bitcoin since the theft.
As part of the NCA team investigating Silk Road 2.0, Chowles led efforts to analyze and extract cryptocurrency from seized devices. He transferred 50 Bitcoin from Thomas White's reserve wallet over two days, broke the sum into smaller amounts, routed them through the Bitcoin Fog mixing service, and cashed out through Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards across 279 transactions totaling £144,580.
The theft was initially blamed on White, the Silk Road 2.0 operator, who denied involvement. By late 2021, the missing coins had been written off as untraceable. A 2022 search of Chowles' home uncovered devices containing the private keys, and Merseyside Police traced the funds through the mixer with assistance from Chainalysis.
Chowles pleaded guilty to theft, transferring criminal property, and concealing criminal property. He was sentenced to five years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2025 and was dismissed from the NCA on 11 July 2025.
A compensation order has also been made for the victim. The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has recovered more than £530 million through confiscation orders over the past five years, returning over £102 million to victims.
