Ex-Police Officer Must Repay $2.4M for Bitcoin He Stole Years Ago

A former UK crime officer stole 50 Bitcoin worth $77K in 2017. Now, thanks to Bitcoin's price surge, he owes $2.4 million.

Imagine stealing something worth $77,000, only to be told years later that you must pay back $2.4 million for it. That's exactly what happened to a former UK police officer — all because of Bitcoin's huge rise in value.

Who is he? Paul Chowles, 44, used to work for the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) — a police force that investigates serious crimes. In 2017, he was helping investigate Silk Road 2.0, a hidden online marketplace (a 'dark web' site where illegal goods are bought secretly).

What did he do? During the investigation, police seized a Bitcoin wallet (a digital account that holds cryptocurrency). Chowles secretly took 50 Bitcoin (BTC) — a type of digital money — out of it and tried to hide the trail.

Here's how he covered his tracks:

He broke the money into small amounts across 279 transactions
He used a mixing service called Bitcoin Fog (a tool that scrambles crypto transactions so they can't be traced)
He cashed out about £144,580 using crypto debit cards

Why does he owe so much more now? When he stole the coins in 2017, 50 Bitcoin was worth about $77,000. But Bitcoin's price has skyrocketed since then. The court's repayment order reflects the current value of the stolen coins.

Key numbers:

50 BTC stolen in 2017
Worth ~$77,000 back then
Now ordered to repay £1,810,678.93 (~$2.4 million)
30 of the 50 coins were recovered

How was he caught? For years, the blame fell on someone else. But in 2022, police searched Chowles' home and found devices holding the private keys (the secret passwords that control a crypto wallet). Investigators traced the money using Chainalysis, a company that follows crypto transactions.

He pleaded guilty and was jailed for five years and six months in July 2025, and was fired from the NCA.

The takeaway: Crypto transactions may seem anonymous, but they can be traced — and Bitcoin's rising value means stealing it can become far more costly than the thief ever imagined.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://decrypt.co/379702/ex-nca-officer-must-repay-2-4m-for-bitcoin-he-stole-when-it-was-worth-77k