James Howells’ $716 million Bitcoin fortune in a landfill has sparked legal battles, and his ex-partner now claims she followed his instructions to discard the hard drive.

The saga of James Howells and his $716 million (569 million British pounds) Bitcoin fortune, lost in a Welsh landfill nearly a decade ago, has taken a new turn.

Halfina Eddy-Evans, Howells’ former partner, has revealed that she threw away the hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin at Howells’ request.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Eddy-Evans said she threw away the hard drive because Howells asked her to and that “losing it was not [her] fault.”

Howells’ story highlights the risks involved in custodying digital assets like cryptocurrencies and why proper management is key to mitigating financial losses.