Man Who Threw Out $500 Million in Bitcoin Sues City Council for Blocking Landfill Excavation
A software engineer who accidentally discarded a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins is suing Newport City Council for £495.31 million (roughly $647 million) in damages after they repeatedly denied his requests to excavate a landfill where he believes the drive is buried.
James Howells, the Wales-based engineer, claims the hard drive—discarded in 2013 during an office clean-up—holds a fortune in Bitcoin, now valued at nearly half a billion dollars. In a last-ditch effort to recover his lost wealth, Howells has turned to the courts.
As reported by WalesOnline, the lawsuit isn’t about the money itself but a tactic to compel the local council to allow excavation of the landfill site. Howells has proposed a cost-free recovery operation, assembling a team of experts who would handle the dig without burdening the city. He even offered Newport City Council 10% of the recovered Bitcoin, a potential windfall of tens of millions of dollars.
However, Newport City Council remains firm in its opposition. The council has dismissed the lawsuit as “weak” and expressed concerns over the environmental risks associated with excavating the landfill. They have cited possible ecological damage as the primary reason for their refusal.
The legal case, set for a hearing in December, marks a dramatic chapter in a bizarre saga that began over a decade ago. Back in 2013, when Bitcoin was still an obscure digital currency, Howells unknowingly discarded the hard drive containing 8,000 BTC while tidying his workspace. At the time, the loss was a modest financial hit. Today, with Bitcoin’s meteoric rise, it has become a massive financial regret.
Howells’ compensation claim is based on Bitcoin’s peak valuation earlier this year when the cryptocurrency hit an all-time high. Whether the court will entertain the case, and if the council’s environmental concerns can be overcome, remains to be seen.
