UK Crime Officer Jailed for Stealing 50 Bitcoins Worth 4.4M During Silk Road Investigation

Paul Chowles, a former UK National Crime Agency officer, has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for stealing 50 Bitcoins, worth approximately 4.4 million pounds (5.9 million USD), from evidence seized during a Silk Road investigation. Chowles, who was part of the team investigating criminal activities on the dark web marketplace, transferred the Bitcoins from Thomas White's wallet in 2017 and laundered them using a mixing service called Bitcoin Fog to obscure the transactions. He then converted the Bitcoin to pounds sterling and spent the funds over several years using Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards. The theft remained undetected until White, the co-founder of Silk Road 2.0, noticed the unauthorized transfer and alerted authorities. Chowles pleaded guilty to theft, transferring criminal property, and concealing criminal property, and the Crown Prosecution Service plans to pursue confiscation proceedings to recover the remaining financial gains from his crimes. Chainalysis assisted in tracking the movement of funds. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the original Silk Road, received a full presidential pardon in January 2025.