Former NCA officer bags 5-year sentence for stealing Silk Road BTC

A former NCA officer got sentenced to five and a half years in prison after admitting he stole 50 BTC (currently worth around £4.4 million) seized as part of a crackdown on illegal dark web marketplaces.

Paul Chowles, 42, is an ex-NCA officer who worked with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to target organized criminals operating on the Silk Road in 2013. That first operation led to drug convictions for several UK suspects. 

NCA officer moved Silk Road BTC

In 2014, investigators launched a 2nd phase that uncovered “Silk Road 2.0,” set up by Thomas White within one month of the FBI’s closure of the Silk Road. White later received a 64-month prison sentence in April 2019. In that team, Chowles was responsible for analyzing and extracting crypto and data from White’s devices. According to the records, 50 BTC out of 97 BTC taken from White’s “retirement wallet” were moved in two large transfers to another public address from May 6 – 7, 2017. 

Those coins were then split into smaller sums and run through “Bitcoin Fog,” a known money‑laundering mixer, before being transferred to other wallets to obscure their origin.

Once the trail was blurred, Chowles converted some of the BTC into pounds and withdrew cash. He also set up accounts with Cryptopay and Wirex, using their debit cards to spend and withdraw funds. From August 26, 2021, until May 20, 2022. He made 279 purchases totaling £23,309 on his Cryptopay card. 

He also made five cash withdrawals amounting to £6,232 from August 30, 2021 until February 22, 2022. Meanwhile, his Wirex card racked up transactions adding up to £79,884.77 from August 27, 2021 to July 14, 2021.

Altogether, Chowles profited by £613,147.29 from his criminal actions, according to the investigators. Today, the market value of the total stolen BTC exceeds £4.4 million.

Chowles confessed to his crime at Liverpool Crown Court in May 2025. He pleaded guilty to various charges, including thievery and transfers and concealment of criminal funds. Finally, he received a sentence of 5.5 years on July 16.

White helped nab Paul Chowles

After White’s 97 Bitcoins were seized, investigators first thought he had removed the 50 tokens by himself. By late 2021, the missing Bitcoins were written off as lost. 

Later, during investigations, White pointed out that only someone inside the NCA with access to his private keys could have taken the missing coins. 

Merseyside officers, who manage White’s license, met NCA colleagues, including Chowles, to review the case. It was at that meeting that their attention turned towards the stolen 50 Bitcoins.

An investigation by Merseyside Police followed, leading to Chowles’s arrest. Officers seized his iPhone, linking him to the transfer account, and showed browser history for a crypto exchange. They also found notebooks in his office containing details such as statements, usernames, and passwords, tied to White’s accounts.

According to specialist prosecutor Alex Johnson, Chowles was someone with a competent and technical mind who had great knowledge of crypto and the dark net. Johnson added, “He abused that trust to fill his own pockets.” 

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