Ex-NCA Officer Ordered to Repay $2.4M for Stealing Bitcoin Worth $77K

A former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer has been ordered to repay £1,810,678.93, around $2.4 million, for stealing 50 Bitcoin from a wallet seized in a dark web investigation nine years ago.

The theft occurred when Paul Chowles, 44, was part of the NCA team investigating Silk Road 2.0 and took the lead on analyzing cryptocurrency from devices seized in the case. He moved 50 BTC out of a confiscated wallet and tried to obscure where it went.

Chowles 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 coins came from Thomas White's own reserve wallet over two days in May 2017.

The theft was initially blamed on White for years, but a search of Chowles' home in 2022 turned up devices holding the private keys. Merseyside Police and Chainalysis helped trace the funds through the mixer.