Ex-NCA Officer Caught Red-Handed Stealing Millions in Bitcoin from Silk Road

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It is with no small amount of surprise that we report on the fall of one of Her Majesty’s finest — well, former finest, to be precise. Paul Chowles, a 42-year-old ex-officer of the esteemed National Crime Agency (NCA), has been sentenced to a rather lengthy term of 5.5 years in prison after taking it upon himself to “borrow” a mere 50 Bitcoin (BTC) from the investigation of the notorious Silk Road 2.0. What could possibly go wrong, you ask? Quite a lot, actually.

At the time of his theft, the 50 BTC was worth a humble £59,000, a sum most would consider substantial. However, with the soaring value of the cryptocurrency, the stolen sum has now ballooned to an eye-watering £4.4 million. In a twist that even Austen might envy, Chowles used his insider knowledge of the Silk Road investigation, a deep and secretive affair, to abscond with the funds that were rightfully seized during the 2014 crackdown on Silk Road 2.0. This was the second incarnation of the infamous marketplace, the original having been shut down by the FBI.

As his duties included extracting data and cryptocurrency from seized devices — a position that gave him privileged access, one might say, to a wealth of opportunity — Chowles used private keys from the device of Thomas White, the Silk Road administrator, to quietly transfer the Bitcoin. This happened in May 2017, when he moved 50 of the 97 BTC to what is known as a “retirement wallet” — although, I am quite certain the word “retirement” didn’t enter his mind at all.

The theft, of course, went undetected for several years. In an almost comical twist of fate, investigators initially blamed the rightful owner of the Bitcoin, Thomas White, assuming the clever criminal mastermind had somehow managed to outwit them with his technical skills. By late 2021, the missing 50 BTC was dismissed as untraceable, and we were all set to forget about it. Ah, but then, enter the plot twist! In 2022, White, having served his time and now released from prison, bravely spoke out. He suspected that someone within the NCA had pilfered his stash. Naturally, this raised some very interesting questions — ones only an insider could answer.

Thus began the new investigation. The NCA, with the help of blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis (because, apparently, no good scandal is complete without a bit of modern technology), began to trace the missing Bitcoin. Despite Chowles’s valiant attempts to disguise his trail using Bitcoin Fog — a mixing service known for its magical ability to muddle crypto transactions — Chainalysis’s sharp tools managed to map the complex journey of the stolen funds. Oh, how the tables turn!

The final reveal was nothing short of extraordinary. Through the advanced magic of Chainalysis Reactor, investigators pieced together the journey of the funds across multiple wallets, ultimately tracing the illicit transactions back to none other than our dear Mr. Chowles. To top it all off, a “default wallet” holding 30 BTC was uncovered. This wallet had been sitting dormant for nearly five years, patiently waiting to be discovered. Of course, the private keys to this wallet were conveniently found on a device during the search of Chowles’s residence. A classic mistake.

In May 2025, Chowles finally admitted to his theft, his transfer of criminal property, and his delightful habit of concealing stolen property. His career at the NCA, which I imagine he thought was invincible, ended in shame just before his sentencing. A lesson, perhaps, in the folly of assuming that one can pilfer from the dark web without eventually being caught. Justice, it seems, may be blind, but it’s also a little bit tech-savvy.

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2025-07-17 13:24