Former UK NCA Officer Ordered to Repay £1.8 Million After Stealing Seized Bitcoin

A former officer with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has been directed to pay more than £1.8 million ($2.4 million) following the theft of seized cryptocurrency, according to a Sept. 30 announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ¹. Paul Chowles, 44, previously received a sentence of five years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2025 after entering guilty pleas to theft, concealing criminal property, and transferring criminal property ¹.

Chowles misappropriated 50 $BTC that law enforcement had confiscated during an inquiry into the dark web platform Silk Road 2.0 ¹. Assigned to analyze and extract digital assets from impounded devices, Chowles diverted the funds from an official wallet and attempted to obscure the transaction chain across multiple transfers ¹. Authorities subsequently recovered 30 of the stolen Bitcoin ¹.

Asset Appreciation Magnifies Confiscation Total

While the 50 Bitcoin held a market value of roughly £60,000 when stolen, subsequent market appreciation substantially elevated the final recovery sum ¹. At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades around $84,175. The CPS secured the confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 for £1,810,678.93, an amount that incorporates the current value of the 30 recovered coins ¹. A compensation order was also issued to allocate proceeds toward the victim's outstanding confiscation balance ¹.

The case mirrors broader British enforcement efforts against illicit digital finance, including recent actions where the UK FCA secured confiscation orders against crypto fraudsters under similar proceeds-of-crime statutes. Chowles was dismissed from the NCA on July 11, 2025, following a Merseyside Police investigation ¹. Over the preceding five years, the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division reported collecting more than £530 million through statutory confiscation orders ¹.