NCA officer jailed for theft of Bitcoin worth millions he had seized in drugs investigation
A serving officer for the National Crime Agency has been jailed after he stole close to £60,000 worth of Bitcoin from a Liverpool drug dealer.
Paul Chowles admitted laundering fifty bitcoin he'd seized from Thomas White in 2022 when White was under investigation for running an illegal drug-selling site on the dark web.
White was later jailed for five years. The bitcoin Chowles stolen would be worth more than £4m today.
The theft was only discovered when White, now released on licence, was subjected to a proceeds of crime investigation and queried where the missing currency was after it had been seized during the investigation.
Merseyside Police opened a case, leading to the arrest of Chowles, 42, from Bristol who eventually pleaded guilty to theft, transferring criminal property, and concealing criminal property.
He was jailed for five years and six months on Wednesday 16 July and has already been sacked by the NCA.
Detective Chief Inspector John Black, from Merseyside Police's Force Intelligence Bureau, said: "This case should illustrate in the starkest terms that nobody is above the law.
"When it became clear that one of the NCA's own officers had stolen Bitcoin, our officers conducted extensive enquiries to unearth a trail of evidence that Chowles had attempted to hide.
"He took advantage of his position on this investigation to line his own pockets while devising a plan that he believed would cover his tracks. He was wrong. "
Several notebooks were discovered in Chowles' office which contained usernames, passwords, and statements relating to White's cryptocurrency accounts.
It is estimated Chowles benefited to the value of £613,147.29 through his criminality.
Alex Johnson, Specialist Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime Division, said: 'Chowles took advantage of his position working on this investigation by lining his own pockets while devising a plan that he believed would ensure that suspicion would never fall upon him.
'Once he had stolen the cryptocurrency, Paul Chowles sought to muddy the waters and cover his tracks by transferring the Bitcoin into mixing services to help hide the trail of money.
'He made a large amount of money through his criminality, and it is only right that he is punished for his corrupt actions."
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