James Howells is suing Newport City Council after a decade-long fight to recover a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins, now worth nearly $500 million, mistakenly dumped in 2013. The council has repeatedly denied excavation requests, citing environmental concerns. Howells claims the data is recoverable.
Council Sued Over Lost $500M Bitcoin Hard Drive
James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Newport City Council after more than a decade of efforts to recover a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins, now valued at over $470 million.
The hard drive was mistakenly dumped at a recycling center in 2013, causing Howells to lose access to his BTC. He claims that the council has “largely ignored” his repeated requests to excavate the landfill where the hard drive is believed to be buried. According to court documents seen by Walesonline, Howells is seeking £495,314,800 ($647 million) in damages, which reflects the peak valuation of his lost bitcoins earlier this year.
Howells, who has assembled a team of experts for the £10 million excavation, insists it would be done at no cost to the council. He has also offered the council 10% of the recovered bitcoin’s value, stating: “I’m still allocating 10% of the value for the council even though they have been problematic throughout.” The bitcoin enthusiast added:
That would be £41m based on today’s rate but in the future it could be hundreds of millions. If they had spoken to me in 2013, this place would look like Las Vegas now. Newport would look like Dubai. That’s the kind of opportunity they’ve missed.
The dispute traces back to 2013 when a miscommunication with his then-partner led to the hard drive being accidentally thrown away. The bitcoins, worth less than £1 million at the time, have since skyrocketed in value. Howells recalled the mix-up, stating that his partner had initially refused to dispose of the bin bag. He was “not overly concerned” at the time, as he had planned to double-check whether he had placed the correct hard drive in the bin bag. However, when he woke at 9 a.m., his partner had already returned from the school run and taken the bin bag away.
Since then, Howells has devoted himself full-time to recovering it, giving up his IT job and securing investors to help fund the operation. He now believes there is an 80% chance that the data on the hard drive can be recovered if located. He opined:
It is what it is. I could spend the rest of my life working nine-to-five and thinking about it every day. I might as well spend my time trying to recover this simple piece of metal. Until the courts tells me ‘N-O spells no’, I’m going to keep going.
“Obviously my finances are not in the best position at the moment. I’m focusing all my current efforts and resources, including money, on the recovery project. I struggle along in the meantime,” he added.
Despite his persistence, Newport City Council has repeatedly rejected Howells’ pleas, citing environmental concerns. Howells’ team of experts, including the council’s former head of landfill, claims they can safely excavate the site using artificial intelligence.
