A resident of the British city of Newport, James Howells, has filed a lawsuit against the local city council, demanding $647 million from it for refusing to dig up a garbage dump to find a lost hard drive containing 7,500 BTC.
James Howells was forced to resort to legal action because he has been unsuccessfully trying for more than a decade to get permission from the local government to dig up his hard drive with bitcoins stored on it from 100,000 tons of garbage. Today, they are worth about $500 million. The man is ready to finance this search and even share with the local government 10% of the amount of bitcoins found, in case of a successful search.
However, the man never received the desired response from the administration. The Newport City Council repeatedly rejected the Bitcoin investor’s proposal to search for the missing device due to possible environmental concerns. Officials explained that excavating the landfill could have a negative impact on the environment due to the release of toxic gas formed during the decomposition of waste.
Despite the fact that the excavations in the area where the hard drive is supposedly located were considered environmentally hazardous, Howells considered the authorities’ arguments unfair, so he intends to act through the courts. According to the man, the hard drive was thrown out by his ex-wife along with a garbage bag, into which the device accidentally fell.
Another Bitcoin owner under the pseudonym Michael was luckier. About 11 years ago, he lost the password to his cryptocurrency wallet, where 43.6 BTC were stored. Two white hat hackers helped him gain access to the assets .
