Conman Foster says case against him ‘fatally flawed’, seeks release
Serial conman Peter Foster says “fatally flawed” fraud charges against him will be dropped by Queensland police and when the truth comes out others will go to jail, not him.
Peter Foster at the Southport Magistrates Court on the Gold Coast, Wednesday. Serial conman Peter Foster is due in court after being extradited from Victoria on fraud charges over an alleged multi-million-dollar Bitcoin scam. (AAP Image/Jason O’Brien)
The 60-year-old is facing a raft of charges over an alleged $2 million Bitcoin fraud in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020.
Foster appeared for a brief mention in Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where he had his bail conditions slightly eased.
He then lashed out at Queensland police for laying the charges, after they were dropped by their NSW counterparts in May 2021.
“It’s disturbing … because we now know that the whole investigation is fatally flawed,” he told reporters.
NSW police laid initial charges, which led to undercover officers tackling and arresting him on a Port Douglas beach in August 2020.
The incident was filmed from the ground and by drone with the footage shown on Nine’s 60 Minutes program.
A NSW court granted Foster bail in March 2021, but he failed to show for a hearing in Sydney in May 2021.
NSW prosecutors dropped all his fraud charges that month, but Queensland police issued a fresh warrant for the 60-year-old relating to the same allegations.
Foster was declared a fugitive, but six months later he was arrested at a rural property near Gisborne in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.
He was then extradited to Queensland and charged with five counts of fraud, two counts of obtaining or dealing with identification information and one count of falsifying records.
Foster said he expects police to drop the charges against him as the truth about his case emerges from “murky, shark-infested waters”.
“People will be going to jail over this, but it won’t be me,” Foster said.
“It’s been a long fight, it’s been two years, I’ve said that the investigation was bogus, but we’re slowly slowly getting the evidence and keep searching and eventually those responsible will be brought to justice.”
Foster was granted bail in May, but ordered to live with his sister at Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland.
He was also ordered to wear a tracking device, surrender his passport, not approach any airport, and report to police three times a week.
Foster’s case has been adjourned by Southport Magistrates Court until November 23.
