UK crime agency officer sentenced for stealing Bitcoin during Silk Road 2.0 probe

A former National Crime Agency officer was sentenced to prison for stealing Bitcoin during a probe into the Silk Road 2.0 dark web marketplace. 42-year-old Paul Chowles was jailed for five and a half years at Liverpool Crown Court for offences including theft, transferring criminal property, and concealing criminal property, according to a July 16 statement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Chowles had been part of the UK’s investigation team targeting criminal networks operating on the dark web. He was specifically involved in analysing digital evidence seized from Thomas White, the co-founder of Silk Road 2.0, following his arrest in 2014. Authorities had seized 97 Bitcoin from White’s digital wallet during the investigation. However, between 6 and 7 May 2017, 50 Bitcoin, were transferred from the wallet to a different address. The funds were then routed through Bitcoin Fog, a known crypto mixing service used to obscure transaction trails. At the time of the transfer, the 50 Bitcoins were worth around £59,000. Their value has since risen to over £4.4 million (approximately $5.91 million), according to prosecutors. For years, the missing Bitcoin was believed to have been moved by White, whose technical knowledge raised suspicion that he could have accessed the wallet. The NCA eventually wrote off the loss as untraceable. The case was reopened in early 2022 after White, who had served a prison sentence, told Merseyside Police that only the NCA had access to the wallet. This triggered a meeting between Merseyside Police and the NCA, attended by Chowles himself. Subsequent investigations by Merseyside Police identified Chowles as the perpetrator. Officers recovered an iPhone linked to a Bitcoin transfer account and browser activity related to a crypto exchange. They also found notebooks in Chowles’ office containing login details and references to White’s crypto accounts. Chowles had used two crypto-enabled debit cards to spend the funds. He made hundreds of transactions using accounts with Cryptopay and Wirex, spending over £100,000 across both platforms. Per the CPS’s estimates, Chowles had managed to secure more than £613,000 from the ordeal. The National Crime Agency supported the investigation and has since dismissed Chowles from his position. What is Silk Road 2.0? Silk Road 2.0 was launched in late 2013, less than a month after the FBI shut down the original Silk Road and arrested its founder, Ross Ulbricht . The successor of the infamous darknet marketplace functioned similarly, and facilitated illegal sales of drugs and other contraband before it too was dismantled by authorities in 2014. Thomas White, who created Silk Road 2.0, was sentenced to 64 months in prison in 2019. His arrest and asset seizure formed part of a broader international effort between the NCA and the FBI targeting online black markets. Following Chowles’ conviction, the CPS confirmed that confiscation proceedings are now underway. Prosecutors described Chowles as a technically skilled officer who had exploited his role for personal gain while attempting to conceal the theft by using crypto laundering tools. The post UK crime agency officer sentenced for stealing Bitcoin during Silk Road 2.0 probe appeared first on Invezz

Source: Invezz