A former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer, Paul Chowles, 44, from Bristol, must repay £1.8m after stealing Bitcoin he had seized during an investigation. Chowles was jailed for five and a half years at Liverpool Crown Court last year after admitting to theft and money laundering.
Chowles transferred approximately half of the Bitcoin seized from a drug trafficker into his own accounts. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) secured a confiscation order for the current value of the 50 Bitcoin he stole, which has increased from £60,000 to over £1.8m.
Chowles was part of a team analysing and extracting cryptocurrency from digital devices. Following the seizure of 97 Bitcoin from Thomas White, who was jailed in 2019, 50 Bitcoin were found to have been withdrawn from the digital wallet. Chowles took the Bitcoin in 2017 and attempted to conceal his actions through a series of transactions. Merseyside Police launched an investigation, leading to Chowles' arrest in May 2022, and 30 Bitcoin were recovered from him.
Luke Clements, of the CPS proceeds of crime division, stated that Chowles had "exploited a position of trust for personal gain."