Man who lost £569 million in Bitcoin fortune when his computer was thrown away is suing council for the right to dig it up – and says he’ll pay to turn Newport into ‘Britain’s Dubai’ if he goes green gets light

A man whose partner threw away his £569 million fortune sees his last chance to get it back and claims he would pay to turn Newport into Britain’s ‘Dubai or Las Vegas’.

James Howells, 39, is preparing to go to court against his council, which refused to let him dig out the hard drive at an authority-owned landfill.

The mistake caused his then partner to throw away a black garbage bag containing the computer equipment that contained the password he needed to access the stash.

He believes it has been in a Newport Council landfill in Wales ever since and has fought for years for the right to retrieve it.

Mr Howells made the decision this week to take legal action against the council, which he said was his ‘last resort’ to finally get his money.

An initial hearing on a request from the authority to have it “thrown out” is scheduled for early next month.

He has put together a team of experts and said he is confident the application will be rejected – which would pave the way for a two-week hearing within the next six months.

The 39-year-old’s ‘lost’ fortune at current prices makes his Bitcoin worth £569 million and he has pledged to donate ten percent of the proceeds back to the local area.

James Howells, 39, pictured, prepares to go to court against his council, which refused to let him dig out the hard drive at an authority-owned landfill

Mr Howells believes the black bag has been at a Newport Council landfill in Wales (pictured) ever since, and he has spent years fighting for the right to retrieve it.

Recycling and waste dump in Newport, where Mr Howells believes the hard drive contains the password to his crypto account

But he said the council has consistently refused to get involved – saying it has missed the opportunity to turn Newport into Britain’s ‘Dubai or Las Vegas’.

He said: ‘Despite being thrown out by my ex-partner, which was a mistake and without my consent or permission, I still own the intellectual digital property on the hard drive.

“I have the right to get the property back at the full cost to myself, or if the landowner refuses, they will pay me the value of my property.

‘I would much rather say: let’s have a conversation, let’s dig and work together amicably – but they don’t want to know.

‘I have filed the lawsuit which will take about three to six months.

“Should I be successful in denying the ‘throwaway’ application,” I will file a two-week lawsuit within three to six months.

‘The current valuation is well over £500 million. When it reaches $125,000 per coin, it reaches $1 billion. It’s crazy money that could do so much good for the area.”

Mr Howells explained that he initially did not want to go through the courts, but claims a lack of council involvement left him with no choice.

If his team is ultimately accepted, he promised that the final harvest would be shared between expert restoration teams, companies and investors, while also donating 10% to the local community to improve the area.

He added: “The council is living in the dark ages. Newport could have been like Las Vegas or Dubai if they had had the foresight to get involved. But they didn’t understand cryptocurrency and refused to learn it.

James has launched a legal battle against Newport City Council to get his hard drive back

“If they had spoken to me at the time about investing in crypto, the whole area – the whole of South Wales – could have benefited from the boom. But they were not intelligent enough and unwilling to listen for that.

“I have continued to try to contact them and they have declined all communication with us.”

He further explained: ‘In June this year I finally decided to take legal action against Newport Council – this is a last resort.

“They have continued to ignore my reasonable requests, so legal action is the only course of action I can take.

“The assets are legally owned. I own it and I have the legal right to get my property back.

‘I believe I can do this without cost or consequence to Newport Council – yet they continue to refuse any attempt to do so.

‘They want to take this straight from the courtroom, but their opinion is unfounded and does not come from experts. We have put together a team of experts to tackle all environmental problems.

‘I employ a team that has carried out several landfill excavations, all within environmental guidelines.

“We also have AI experts who have the technology to make finding the needle in the haystack much easier.

A general view of the recycling and waste dump in Newport where James Howells believes the hard drive is located

‘I can perform everything for free for the public. We are confident that we have all the evidence to defeat the cancellation application.

“The council has been hostile this whole time. Our team of experts says the data is recoverable. They don’t believe that, but they are not qualified to make that judgment.

“They don’t know how the hard drive was put together.”

Although the claim is around £500 million, he said Bitcoin only needs to reach £125,000 and it would break the billion pound barrier.

He added: ‘I don’t want to talk about what happened then because I can only deal with absolute facts as they are now.

‘But this is something that the whole area could really benefit from. Legal action is now the only route open to us.”

A Newport City Council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council has been approached several times since 2013 about the possibility of recovering a piece of IT hardware believed to be in our landfill.

“The council has told Mr Howells on several occasions that excavations are not possible under our environmental permit, and that such work would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.

‘The municipality is the only body authorized to carry out work on the site.

‘Sir. Howells’ claim is without merit, and the council strongly opposes it.”