A man who misplaced a hard drive containing Bitcoin valued at $632 million has responded to the council, asserting he has pinpointed a ‘small area’ in a landfill where the drive might be located.
James Howells is locked in an ongoing dispute with Newport City Council in Wales over a hard drive allegedly holding a staggering $632 million worth of Bitcoin.
The IT expert claims the hard drive, containing 8,000 Bitcoins, was accidentally discarded by a former partner in 2013.
Realizing the error, Howells urgently contacted the council to explain his predicament, but the council has consistently denied him access to the landfill to search for the drive.
In response, Howells decided to sue the council for $648 million and devised a strategy to locate the hard drive within the landfill, a conflict that has persisted for over a decade.
A Newport Council representative stated that the organization has informed Howells ‘multiple times’ that an excavation is ‘not possible under our environmental permit and that such work would significantly harm the surrounding environment.’
The council also noted it is the ‘sole authority permitted to conduct operations on the site’ and ‘adheres to a strict monitoring and reporting process for all environmental parameters.’
Nonetheless, Howells contends he has been able to ‘pinpoint’ a highly accurate location of where the hard drive is likely situated.
During a hearing at Cardiff civil and family court, which was set to determine if the case should proceed to a full trial, Howells’ legal representatives argued that retrieving the hard drive merely requires a ‘precise excavation’ of a ‘small area’ in the landfill, which they assert has been accurately located.
They emphasized: “This is a finely tuned plan by expert excavators.”
Reportedly, Howells has enlisted NASA data recovery engineers and employed AI technology in his quest to find the hard drive.
Before the hearing, a Newport Council spokesperson stated: “Responding to Mr Howells’ unsubstantiated claims is diverting time and resources from the council and Newport taxpayers that could be allocated to essential services.”
However, Howells remains determined: “I could spend the rest of my life working nine-to-five and thinking about it every day. I might as well spend my time trying to recover this simple piece of metal.”