James Howells is pursuing a $647 million lawsuit against Newport City Council for the accidental disposal of his hard drive, which contained 8,000 Bitcoins, into a landfill in 2013.
James Howells is suing Newport City Council for $647 million (£495 million) in order to recover 8,000 Bitcoins that were inadvertently disposed of in a landfill in 2013.
The council has neglected the 39-year-old IT engineer for years, and he claims that this is his “last resort.” Howells is seeking access to the landfill in order to locate the hard drive, which is currently valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, the council has declined to engage in collaboration. He has been attempting to retrieve it for more than a decade, and it is evident that his patience has been exhausted.
Howells alleges that the council’s refusal to permit the recovery operation has resulted in substantial financial losses.
He has expressed his willingness to provide the council with a 10% share of the recovered Bitcoin in exchange for funding a $12 million (£10 million) excavation at no cost.
The council would receive a sum exceeding $41 million if it were to achieve success. Hoping to compel the council to reconsider, he is pursuing this matter in court.
The drive was lost by Howells at a time when Bitcoin was still in its infancy and had not yet achieved the significant value it possesses today. Under $1 million was the value of the coins at that time. Currently, they have increased to nearly $500 million.
Howells provided an explanation in the court documents regarding the basic error that led to this situation. Following a cleansing, he requested that his former companion transport a few refuse bags to the nearby recycling center.
She threw away the hard drive at the Docksway dump because she thought she threw away the right bag. When Howells became aware of the situation, it was too late.
“If they had consulted me at that time, Newport would have resembled Dubai by now,” Howells stated. “They have overlooked an extraordinary opportunity. With the value of this Bitcoin, they could have transformed the city into something unique.”
Despite his numerous attempts, the council has repeatedly refused to permit the excavation, citing environmental concerns as the reason.
Howells is not operating independently on this matter. He has assembled a team of experts, including a former director of the Newport landfill, who are certain that they possess the precise location of the hard drive.
For years, the landfill at Docksway has been a source of frustration for Howells. ‘Cell 2 – Area 2’ is the location of the hard drive, as per his team.
He is suggesting a substantial excavation operation that would require 18 to 36 months to complete, followed by an additional year of site restoration.
