Former UK National Crime Agency Officer Jailed for Stealing 50 Bitcoin in Silk Road 2.0 Investigation

A former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer in the UK has been jailed for stealing 50 Bitcoin during the Silk Road 2.0 investigation. Silk Road 2.0 was a follow-up version of the original Silk Road, going live one month after the FBI shut down the original Silk Road and arrested its founder, Ross Ulbricht, in October 2013. It was shut down by the FBI after running for a year. Paul Chowles, an NCA operations officer who participated in the investigation, was responsible for extracting and analyzing device data of the co-founder of Silk Road 2.0 during law enforcement operations. 50 of the 97 Bitcoin seized at the time were transferred in May 2017. These Bitcoin were subsequently processed through the cryptocurrency mixing service Bitcoin Fog, apparently to conceal their origin. Paul Chowles has pleaded guilty to charges of theft, transfer of criminal property, and concealment of criminal property and has been sentenced to more than five years in prison. The UK Crown Prosecution Service calculated that he illegally profited approximately £613,150 (US$821,345). [Odaily Planet Daily News]