The reappearance in Fiji of the man known as "Australia's greatest con man" at the center of another alleged scam has thrust the self-proclaimed "human headline" back into the spotlight.
In his 44 years, Gold Coast-born Peter Foster has been jailed on three continents and became a household name in Britain in 2002 over "Cheriegate" when British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife tried to cover up the Australian's role in purchasing two flats for her.
His silver tongue and winning ways have sucked many into his schemes for selling quack slimming products.
They also helped him win the affections of high profile girlfriends such as 1980s British pin-up girl Samantha Fox and Carole Caplin, who was Cherie Blair's so-called "lifestyle guru" when he met her in 2002.
The human headline has been more of a footnote over the last two years but now he finds himself back in the public eye and apparently back on the run.
A planned resort in the Yasawa Islands in conservative, predominantly Christian Fiji has in recent weeks become the center of a furore over suggestions that it would be a perfect refuge for gay pedophiles.
Material posted on three Web sites and leaked to the local media said that the resort would be a "heavenly haven for homosexuals."
A man claiming to be linked to the development said on an Internet chat channel that Fijian boys "as young as you want them to be" would be available for sexual encounters.
Police now allege the material -- which also included claims that government officials were bribed to allow the development to go ahead -- were planted by Foster in a bid to discredit the New Zealand developers.
Reports have said that he planned to take over the project himself in association with several local partners.
Police have said they were looking for Foster over the alleged hoax but are now tightlipped about the details of their investigation, which also includes claims he is living in Fiji illegally.
"There is a continuing investigation but we don't want to say anything more than that, so we don't prejudice the investigation," police spokeswoman Prashila Narayan said.
Foster last hit the headlines in 2004, claiming he was going to publish a book about the relationship he and Caplin enjoyed with the Blairs. He claimed in newspaper interviews that Caplin had so much influence over Tony Blair that she even chose his underwear for him.
The link to Foster was downplayed by the Blairs, although a leaked series of e-mails contradicted Cherie Blair's claims that the Australian con man had not been involved in the purchase of the two luxury flats in a new development in the southwestern city of Bristol.
There was never any suggestion that there was anything illegal about the deal, although it went through around the same time that British immigration authorities were seeking to deport Foster because of his criminal record.
At various times Foster has complained to Australian and British press watchdogs about being described as a con man, but the complaints have been dismissed because Foster has spoken freely about his criminal past in a number of interviews.
Despite frequent claims to have learned his lesson and turned his life around, he has often seemed proud of his chequered history.
"Who said the Gold Coast is a sunny place for shady people? I love that. I always felt so at home here," he told in an interview in 2003.
Foster's entrepreneurial spirit showed itself at an early age when he became a teenage boxing promoter. Boxing also led to his first tangle with the law at the age of 20 when he was fined for trying to claim insurance for a cancelled fight.
Not long after, he was declared bankrupt after trying to sell tickets for a Muhammed Ali fight in Australia that never took place.
His attention later shifted from heavyweight boxers to those aspiring to be featherweights with a string of schemes to sell dubious weight loss teas and other treatments.
He fell foul of authorities in Australia, Britain and the US for making misleading claims for the products and spent several spells in prison.
He has lived in Fiji on and off for several years and in the 2001 elections he ran the campaign for a breakaway political party, reportedly spending 1 million Fiji dollars (US$580,000) of his own money.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number