UK Officer Bitcoin Theft Leads to Jail in Silk Road Case

A former officer from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for stealing £4.4 million worth of Bitcoin from evidence collected during the Silk Road 2.0 investigation. The incident,covered by Crypto News, has shocked both law enforcement and crypto communities.

Trusted Investigator Turned Offender

Paul Chowles, 42, was once trusted with leading cyber investigations into dark web crime. Ironically, he ended up abusing that very trust. As part of the NCA’s elite unit, Chowles was assigned to handle crypto assets seized from Thomas White, the co-founder of Silk Road 2.0,  a dark web marketplace that followed the original Silk Road. In 2019, White was sentenced to over five years in prison.

Chowles was responsible for extracting and analysing data from White’s devices, including access to a digital wallet that held 97 Bitcoins.

A Quiet Theft Uncovered

In May 2017, Chowles discreetly moved 50 of those Bitcoins,  then worth a fraction of today’s value, to two public wallet addresses in a pair of carefully planned transactions. What made it even harder to trace was his use of Bitcoin Fog, a popular mixing service used to launder crypto funds by scrambling transaction history.

Once laundered, the stolen crypto was converted to pounds sterling and used over time through Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards allowing Chowles to spend the money in the real world without raising immediate suspicion.

Four Years of Concealment

Despite the covert nature of his actions, the truth eventually came out. A detailed forensic audit revealed the stolen transactions and traced the addresses back to Chowles. Over the years, he had made multiple small-value purchases to avoid detection, but the trail caught up with him.

Chowles was arrested and charged with theft and money laundering. During the trial, it became clear he had personally benefitted from over £4.4 million (approx. $5.9 million). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has now begun confiscation proceedings to recover as much of the stolen money as possible.

A Stark Reminder to the Industry

This case is a powerful reminder that even top law officers can still be tempted to do the wrong thing. It makes people wonder how well things are being checked on the inside, and how quickly digital money can go missing if no one’s really keeping an eye on it.

What makes the timing even more surprising is that it came right after a major twist in the Silk Road story. Ross Ulbricht,  the man who created the original Silk Road — was granted a full presidential pardon in January 2025. He had spent more than a decade behind bars, and his case remains one of the most talked-about in crypto history, involving over 1.5 million Bitcoin transactions worth more than $213 million.

What Happens Next?

As Paul Chowles begins his prison sentence, authorities continue to investigate whether additional assets can be recovered. The NCA has also started an internal review to look into how it handles sensitive crypto evidence, which could lead to some big changes in the way things are done. 

For now, this case is a wake-up call, showing that even the people meant to uphold the law can be tempted by the lure of digital riches.