INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
the co-founder of the defunct online black market Silk Road 2.0.The Crown Prosecution Service said on Wednesday that Paul Chowles, an
ex-operational officer with the National Crime Agency who was part of a team investigating Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0, was sentenced to
property, and concealing criminal property.Paul Chowles was sentenced to over five years in prison for stealing 50 Bitcoin seized in a
criminal investigation into Silk Road 2.0
the online black market and arrested its founder, Ross Ulbricht, in October 2013
It lasted a year until it was shut down by the FBI.Chowles tried to cover tracks with crypto mixerChowles was the lead in extracting and
analysing data from devices owned by Silk Road 2.0 co-founder, Thomas White.The NCA had seized 97 Bitcoin from White when he was arrested in
address.The Bitcoin was then sent through the crypto mixing service Bitcoin Fog in an apparent attempt to obscure its origins.Chainalysis
said its tools helped identify that some of the funds were converted to cash at exchanges or put on crypto-enabled debit cards, which
Johnson said.Silk Road 2.0 co-founder alerted cops to Bitcoin theftThe CPS said that the National Crime Agency investigation team assumed
White had used his skills to somehow access his wallet and transfer the Bitcoin, and wrote it off as untraceable.However, White told police
that someone else had moved the Bitcoin and said he knew it had to be someone from within the NCA, as it was the only authority with the
keys to his crypto wallet.Related: UK lawmakers push to ban crypto donations in political campaignsMerseyside Police officers met with the
NCA, a meeting that Chowles attended, to go over its investigation of White
found a phone that linked Chowles to an account used to transfer Bitcoin, which also had internet search history for a crypto exchange,
109,425 British pounds ($146,580), but the CPS calculated that he benefited financially to the tune of around 613,150 British pounds
($821,345).The CPS said it would pursue confiscation proceedings against Chowles.Magazine: Inside a 30,000 phone bot farm stealing crypto
