Man who threw away $500M Bitcoin hard drive sues city for right to search landfill

Recap: Desperate times call for desperate measures and with more than half a billion dollars potentially at stake, times are certainly desperate for one British man. Back in 2013, computer engineer James Howells made a grave mistake by accidentally tossing a hard driving containing a key to unlock thousands Bitcoins. It was reportedly one of two 2.5-inch drives he intended to get rid of, but he disposed of the wrong one by mistake.

Howells eventually realized what he'd done, but it was too late. His bag of trash from that day is believed to be at the local landfill, and is likely buried under several feet of garbage. Attempts to gain access to the landfill to excavate the missing drive have come up short, and Howells is now suing the local city council for the opportunity.

As Wales Online highlights, Howells is suing the council for the value of the Bitcoins at their peak from earlier this year. Howells told the publication that the suit is more about persuading the council to let him try and find the hard drive at the landfill.

With so much money now on the line, Howells quit his job and is focused full time on the search and rescue operation. He has hired a team of experts that have invested in the mission in exchange for a cut of the proceeds if the coins are ever recovered. Howells has even offered to give the city 10 percent of the haul. All said, he'd be left with about 30 percent of his original stash or around $150 million.

Of course, the whole thing could be for not. Even if Howells was able to somehow find the drive, it's been sitting in a landfill for more than a decade. Still, his team of experts believe there is about an 80 percent chance that data from the drive would be recoverable.

In a statement to Whales Online, the council said they've told Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under their environmental permit and that such a job would have a profoundly negative impact on the surrounding area.