Cocaine Kingpin Wins Damages Over Kosher Prison Food — Then Loses It In Clawback
Image by Getty Images
By Aiden Pink October 22, 2017
A jailed drug dealer won nearly $6,000 from the British government after being denied kosher food in prison — only to see the government take back the money as it tries to claw back his ill-gotten profits.
Frederick Colverson was convicted of conspiring to supply class A drugs and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 after 383 pounds of cocaine were discovered hidden inside pineapple boxes shipped from Costa Rica. Per court orders, the British government has been working to seize £377,000 ($497,000) of his assets allegedly earned from the crime.
Colverson, who has colitis and has had half his liver removed, complained from prison that he was being denied kosher food, which he said caused him to have to spend time in the prison hospital. He reached a settlement with the Department of Justice for £4,500 ($5,931). But Judge John Devaux granted a request by the Crown Prosecution Service to count that award toward the money the British government is seeking to seize.
“It’s not just about him being deprived of his rights as an adherent to Judaism,” Colverson’s solicitor, David Lister, told the court, adding that taking the money would be unjust.
The drug shipment discovered by British police was said to be worth £34 million ($45 million).
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
