A man whose partner squandered his £569million fortune is facing his last chance to win it back – and claims he would pay to turn Newport into the UK’s “Dubai or Las Vegas”.
James Howells, 39, is preparing to go to court against his council, which refused to allow him to dig up the hard drive at a landfill site owned by the authority.
The mistake caused his then-partner to throw away a black trash bag containing the computer equipment containing the password he needed to access the stash.
He believes it has since been left at a rubbish tip run by Newport Council in Wales and has spent years fighting for the right to get it back.
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.
A first hearing on a request from the authority to “dismiss” it is scheduled for early next month.
He has assembled a team of experts and said he is confident the request will be dismissed, which would pave the way for a full 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 per cent of the profits to the local area.
James Howells, 39, pictured, prepares to go to court against his council which refused to allow him to dig up the hard drive at a landfill site owned by the authority.
Howells believes the black bag has since been left at a rubbish tip run by Newport Council in Wales, pictured, and has spent years fighting for the right to get it back.
Newport Waste and Recycling Council where Howells believes the hard drive containing the password to his crypto account is located
But he said the council has continually refused to compromise and says it has missed the opportunity to turn Newport into the UK’s “Dubai or Las Vegas”.
He said: ‘Even though my ex-partner kicked me out, which was a mistake and without my permission or consent, I still own the digital intellectual property located on the hard drive.
‘I have the right to recover the property at full cost to myself or if the owner refuses, he pays me the value of my property.
‘I’d rather say let’s have a conversation and investigate and work together in a friendly way, but they don’t want to know.
‘I instigated legal action which should last between three and six months.
‘If I succeed in defeating the ‘dismissal’ motion, I will proceed within three to six months with a full two-week court case.
‘The current valuation is over £500m. When it reaches £125,000 per coin, it reaches £1 billion. It’s crazy that it could do so much good for the area.’
Howells explained that he initially did not want to go down the judicial route, but says the council’s lack of commitment left him no choice.
If his team is eventually allowed entry, he promised that the final loot would be divided between teams of recovery experts, businesses and investors while also donating 10% to the local community to improve the area.
He added: ‘The council lives in the dark ages. Newport could have looked like Las Vegas or Dubai if they had the foresight to participate. But they didn’t understand cryptocurrencies and refused to learn.
James has started a legal fight against Newport City Council to recover his hard drive
‘If they had told me about investing in cryptocurrencies back then, the whole area, the whole of South Wales, could have benefited from the increase. But they weren’t smart enough or willing to listen enough to do it.
“I kept trying to interact with them and they refused all communication with us.”
He went on to explain: ‘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 taking legal action is the only path I can take.
‘The assets legally belong to your property. I own them and have the legal right to get my property back.
“I believe I can do this at no cost or impact to Newport Council, yet they continue to reject any efforts to participate.”
‘They want to take this directly from the courts, but their opinion is uneducated and does not come from experts. We have assembled a team of experts to address all environmental concerns.
‘I have hired a team that has carried out multiple landfill excavations, all within environmental guidelines.
‘We also have artificial intelligence experts who have the technology to make the job of finding the needle in the haystack much easier.
A general view of the Newport waste and recycling landfill, where James Howells believes the hard drive is.
‘I can do everything at no cost to the public. We are confident that we have all the evidence to defeat the strikeout request.
‘The council has been antagonistic throughout the process. Our team of experts says that the data is recoverable. They don’t believe it but they are not qualified to make that judgment.
“They don’t know how the hard drive was put together.”
Although the claim is for around £500 million, he said all Bitcoin needs to do is reach £125 thousand and it would break the billion pound barrier.
He added: “I don’t want to talk about what happened back then, as I can only address absolute facts as they are today.”
‘But this is something that could really benefit the whole area. Legal action is the only avenue we have now.”
A Newport City Council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council has been contacted several times since 2013 about the possibility of recovering a piece of IT hardware said to be at our landfill.
‘Mr Howells has been told several times by the council that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.
‘The city council is the only body authorized to carry out operations in the place.
‘Mister. Howells’ claim is baseless and is strongly resisted by the council.