A UK court has ordered Paul Chowles, a 44-year-old former National Crime Agency officer, to repay 1,810,678.93 pounds, approximately $2.4 million, for stealing 50 Bitcoin during an investigation into the dark web marketplace Silk Road 2.0. The coins, worth roughly 60,000 pounds ($77,000) when he stole them in 2017, were routed through the Bitcoin Fog mixing service and cashed out through Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards across 279 transactions totaling 144,580 pounds. Thirty of the 50 Bitcoin were recovered, and the gap between the original and repayment amounts reflects Bitcoin’s significant appreciation since 2017. Chowles was sentenced to five years and six months in prison in July 2025 and dismissed from the NCA the following day.
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