A former National Crime Agency officer has been ordered to repay £1.8 million after stealing Bitcoin seized during an investigation into the dark web marketplace Silk Road 2.0. Paul Chowles, 44, absconded with 50 of 97 Bitcoin recovered from convicted administrator Thomas White whilst analysing seized devices in his official capacity. The confiscation order sends a strong message about law enforcement accountability and demonstrates that authorities will pursue criminal proceeds regardless of how they are concealed.

Chowles transferred the Bitcoin to his own address between May 6 and 7, 2017, when the coins were worth approximately £60,000, then obscured the transaction trail through a cryptocurrency mixing service called Bitcoin Fog. By the time of his sentencing in July 2025, the stolen coins had appreciated dramatically to over £4.4 million, though the Crown Prosecution Service calculated his "available amount" for confiscation at £1,810,678.93. He was dismissed from the NCA and sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment after pleading guilty to theft and related offences. Suspicion eventually fell on Chowles when Thomas White insisted someone inside the agency had stolen the missing coins; investigators discovered an iPhone linking him to cryptocurrency transfer accounts and found notebooks containing passwords to White's digital wallets.