A UK court has ordered former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles to repay £1,810,678.93, approximately $2.4 million, after he stole 50 Bitcoin from a wallet seized during the Silk Road 2.0 investigation. The confiscation order was secured by the Crown Prosecution Service on Wednesday under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Chowles, 44, from Bristol, was part of the NCA team investigating Silk Road 2.0, the dark web marketplace launched by Thomas White after the original Silk Road was shut down in 2013. In May 2017, he moved 50 BTC out of a confiscated wallet over two days. At the time, the coins were worth roughly £60,000, or $77,000.
He split the Bitcoin into smaller amounts, routed them through the Bitcoin Fog mixing service, and cashed out via Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards across 279 transactions totaling £144,580. The theft was initially blamed on Thomas White for years. A 2022 search of Chowles’ home found devices holding private keys, and Merseyside Police traced the funds through the mixer with help from Chainalysis.
Chowles was jailed for five years and six months in July 2025 after pleading guilty to theft, transferring criminal property and concealing criminal property. The NCA dismissed him on 11 July 2025. Thirty of the 50 BTC were recovered, and the confiscation order includes their total value, with the Crown Prosecution Service attributing the gap to Bitcoin’s appreciation since 2017.
Luke Clements, a specialist prosecutor in the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Paul Chowles exploited a position of trust for personal gain, stealing assets that had already been recovered through law enforcement action.” The CPS added that it would continue to pursue offenders’ assets relentlessly.
