British man says Welsh city could ‘look like Vegas’ if it dug up lost bitcoin

A man who lost 8,000 bitcoins in a Welsh landfill more than 10 years ago has launched a half-billion-pound lawsuit against his local council, claiming that he could have turned the Welsh city of Newport into Las Vegas or Dubai if it had helped him to dig up the missing crypto.

James Howells, 39, lost the bitcoins in 2013 after he accidentally threw away his wallet while cleaning his office. Since then, he has drawn up plans for a £10 million ($13 million) landfill excavation and has promised to share 10% of the rescued bitcoin with Newport City Council. 

However, the local authority has repeatedly rebuffed his plans, claiming that such an excavation would breach environmental permits and cause a “huge negative environmental impact.” 

As a result, Howells threatened to bankrupt the council with legal action and on Saturday, as reported by Wales Online, he submitted a lawsuit seeking almost £500 million (over $650 million) in damages.

Read more: Welsh man claims he can pay for landfill dig in search of lost 8,000 bitcoin

The suit accuses the council of ignoring a possible 10% bitcoin investment (worth roughly $53.5 million) and failing to engage with his expert team. Howells also argues that his project could “modernize” the council’s landfill site which he noted has breached permits regarding levels of arsenic, asbestos, and methane. 

Howells said, “If they had spoken to me in 2013, this place would look like Las Vegas now. Newport would look like Dubai. That’s the kind of opportunity they’ve missed.”

“We’re willing to go all the way to the appeals court, the Supreme Court. With a case of this magnitude, I’m expecting to go the full distance. I didn’t really want to go to court but this is the final shot,” he added.

However, the council has described Howells’ filed claims as “baseless,” telling Wales Online, “Our monitoring and reporting regime is not related to Mr Howells’ claim and we believe the mention of it is nothing more than an attempt to draw attention away from a fundamentally weak claim which we are vigorously resisting.”

The case will be heard in court this December.

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