A detective from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has been charged with stealing 50 Bitcoin while investigating the infamous Silk Road 2.0, a dark web marketplace for illegal drugs.
Back in 2017, that amount of Bitcoin was worth almost £60,000, but with today’s wild crypto prices, it is now valued at over £3 million.
Paul Chowles, 42, has been accused of taking the entire amount, while serving as one of the lead officers in the case against the founder of black market site — Thomas White.
White, a university dropout from Liverpool, was sentenced in 2019 for running the marketplace, which facilitated drug deals using Bitcoin transactions.
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Chowles is now facing 15 charges, including theft and multiple counts of concealing, disguising, and converting criminal property. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that he will appear before Liverpool Magistrates' Court on April 25, 2025.
Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “We have authorised Merseyside Police to charge National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles with 15 offences relating to the alleged theft of 50 Bitcoin, worth nearly £60,000 in 2017, during an investigation into online organised crime.”
During his work on the case, Chowles, alongside fellow NCA detective Garry Tancock, had investigated Thomas White — who was known as the “guiding mind” behind Silk Road 2.0.
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The dark web marketplace was a successor to the original Silk Road, which was taken down by the FBI in 2013. White, under the alias “StExo,” helped relaunch the site alongside American collaborator Blake Benthall, also known as “DefCon.”
After its 2013 takedown, Silk Road 2.0 operated until November 2014. However, White had already begun stepping back from active involvement earlier that year. By the time he was arrested, he was found to have the 50 Bitcoin hoard.
When it came to sentencing in 2019, White pleaded guilty to supplying MDMA, money laundering, and making indecent images of children. He also admitted to assisting or inducing the commission of offences abroad, with his dark web marketplace facilitating over £110,000 worth of Class A drug sales in Germany.
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Chowles, now charged with stealing Bitcoin from that very investigation, was once a key figure in bringing White to justice. The CPS has stated that while Bitcoin theft is at the heart of the charges, the value of the stolen digital currency will be based on its worth at the time of the alleged crime — meaning it will reflect 2017’s prices rather than today’s ginormous $30 million value.
As the case unfolds, Chowles’ alleged offences will be sure to raise serious concerns over corruption within law enforcement, especially when it comes to handling digital assets like cryptocurrency. His court appearance, taking place on 25 April 2025, is expected to shed more light on how one of the NCA’s own detectives may have turned from investigating crime to allegedly committing it.