Former NCA officer ordered to repay £1.8 million
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- Paul Chowles must repay £1.81 million after stealing 50 Bitcoin seized during a dark-web investigation.
- Authorities recovered 30 Bitcoin, while the original 50 Bitcoin was worth about £60,000.
- The confiscation order follows Chowles’ 2025 conviction for theft and money laundering.
Paul Chowles has been ordered to repay £1.81 million after stealing Bitcoin (BTC) seized during a dark-web investigation.
Chowles, a former National Crime Agency officer, received a five-year prison sentence in 2025.
He stole 50 Bitcoin from a confiscated wallet linked to the Silk Road 2.0 investigation.
The 50 Bitcoin was worth about £60,000 when stolen, before Bitcoin’s value increased.
“Confiscation Orders are a powerful tool in ensuring that crime does not pay,” Luke Clements of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division said in a statement.
Investigators recovered 30 Bitcoin and traced the remaining criminal benefit through cryptocurrency transactions.
The confiscation proceedings were brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
The Crown Prosecution Service has recovered over £530 million through confiscation orders during five years.
