Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Latin Times
Latin Times
World
M.B. Mack

Man Accidentally Threw Away Bitcoin Hard Drive Worth $500 Million. Now He's Suing City for Refusing to Let Him Look for It in the Dump

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on September 14, 2023 shows a truck unloading waste as cranes move waste up to a higher level at the Bantar Gebang landfill, which is the size of 200 football pitches and receives 7,500 tonnes of waste from Jakarta every day, in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Home to around 30 million people, the sprawling megalopolis of Jakarta is facing a trash crisis with its main Bantar Gebang dump site, one of the world's biggest, close to capacity. (Credit: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

A British man is suing a UK council for millions of dollars after they refused to let him search a landfill for a hard drive containing Bitcoin, also worth millions, after it was accidentally thrown out by his partner, according to a report.

James Howells' partner at the time accidentally threw out his BTC wallet in 2013 which contained 8,000 Bitcoin, now valued at over $500 million, according to WalesOnline.

Despite numerous requests over the last decade to excavate the landfill, the City Council of Newport has repeatedly denied him permission, citing environmental risks.

Howells has gone as far as to assemble and fund an excavation team, with the promise of giving the council 10% of the recovered value if found, according to WalesOnline.

Now, Howells has taken legal action, filing a $647 million lawsuit against the council, which represents the peak value of the lost Bitcoin. Howells argues that the council has blocked his recovery attempts for years.

The case is set for a December court hearing, where Howells hopes to get his excavation approved. If he succeeds, the recovery effort would take 18 to 36 months, involving the excavation of around 100,000 tons of waste.

© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.