Kent drug dealer forced to sell £20,000 sports car

Cosmo Budd’s car was purchased with money earned through the supply of drugs. (Image courtesy of Wilsons Auctions)

A £20,000 sports car will be sold at auction after a convicted cocaine dealer’s assets were targeted under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Cosmo Budd, 25, was jailed for three years and nine months in December 2021 after pleading guilty to money laundering and class A drug supply offences.

He had been arrested a year earlier at a property he was renting in Bartley MillLamberhurst, where officers had found cocaine with a street value of around £3,000. They had also recovered £1,385 in cash.

A review of Budd’s personal and financial records established he had earned £160,816 from his criminal activity, of which £28,824 was identified as being recoverable through the cash that was seized, separate money in his bank account and the sale of a BMW convertible, personalised number plate and quad bike.

The confiscation order relating to the sale of Budd’s assets was approved during a hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday 11 August 2022. Any further assets identified in the future can also be subject to confiscation proceedings until the total earnings of his criminal activity are paid back.

Illegal earnings

Detective Inspector Helen Smithers of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: ‘Cosmo Budd and other criminals like him may enjoy spending their illegal earnings on sports cars and designer clothing but we will not hesitate to strip them of their assets whilst they are spending a less luxurious lifestyle behind bars.

‘Our financial investigators leave no stone unturned when reviewing a criminal’s personal wealth, ensuring they cannot continue to reap the rewards of their crimes after they have been released from prison.

‘We will continue to use the legislation afforded to us under the Proceeds of Crime Act to drive home the message that crime does not pay.’

Assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act are distributed to operational agencies including Kent Police under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). Recovered assets are divided between operational agencies and the Home Office which are then reinvested into policing.

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