Peter Foster
Encyclopedia
Peter Clarence Foster is an Australian who has been convicted and jailed on three continents for offences involving weight loss
products and property transactions.
He was also in the headlines following his involvement in helping Cherie Blair
, wife of British
prime minister Tony Blair
, buy properties in Bristol
.
Foster sold his memoirs to a British publisher for $1.2 million.
In 2009, he announced he was planning to make a motion picture out of his career provided his publishers release him from their agreement.
When he was aged 20 he was fined by a court in Australia for attempting to make a fraudulent insurance claim when a boxing match that he was promoting fell through. The following year he was declared bankrupt in Australia after trying to market a product aimed at people who wanted to quit smoking.
In 1983, Foster became a television producer and filmed a documentary with Muhammad Ali
while living with Ali at his home near Wilshire Boulevard
.
, introduced him to Bai Lin, a Chinese diet tea.
Foster obtained the rights for Bai Lin Tea for Australia where it was major success; however he was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(ACCC). Despite not being charged with an offence, the product came under intense media scrutiny due to the claim that the product could result in weight loss. Foster expanded to South Africa, England and throughout Europe where he reportedly made over $30 million in the mid 1980s selling the tea, primarily in the United Kingdom.
In marketing the tea, Foster employed prominent people such as model Samantha Fox
(whom he was dating), jockey Lester Piggott
and Sarah, Duchess of York
to endorse the tea and became a major sponsor of Chelsea F.C.
in 1987 with the team wearing the Bai Lin Tea logo on their jerseys. He was fined £21,000 in 1994 in the United Kingdom
for a trading standards offence over Bai Lin Tea and in 1996 was jailed for breaching laws regarding his distribution of slimming granules. Nine months later he absconded while on day release from open prison and went to Australia, though he was subsequently re-arrested and extradited back to England.
Testing showed Bai Lin Tea to be ordinary black China tea. Samantha Fox had grown distant from him as she later admitted:
Some time later Foster suggested that he and Fox make a film about their lives, but she sent a refusal via her lawyer.
. After publishing an advertisement that claimed that the tea lowered the cholesterol
levels of its consumers and placing these in newspapers across the US, including The New York Times
and The Washington Post
, he was convicted of a trading standards offence and sentenced to four months in prison. Under California law, where he was based, it was an offence to state that a food product could lower cholesterol (Sherman Food and Drug Act).
In September 2000 he was jailed at St Albans
Crown Court
for using fraudulent documents to obtain credit for a company that sold thigh-reduction cream. The judge said "The sooner you go from the country the better." As Foster had served time on remand
he was released and went to Australia.
Foster went on to become a marketer worldwide of lotions and potions, pills and patches sold as health and beauty products. He used celebrity endorsement to promote his brands. He was one of the first to realise the selling power of celebrity.
(sometimes known as "Cheriegate") became known when it was revealed that he was the financial advisor to Blair and assisted her with the purchase of two flats in Bristol. Cherie Blair tried to distance herself from Foster and released a public statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the property deal. The Daily Mail
newspaper provided email evidence to the contrary; in one email between Blair and Foster she described him as "a star" and said, "We are on the same wave length, Peter."
Blair went public herself, tearfully reading a prepared statement blaming her "misfortune" on the pressures of running a family and being a mother. Cherie and Tony Blair at one time agreed to be Godparents to the yet-to-be born child of Foster and his partner Carole Caplin
, who later miscarried. Foster also celebrated Christmas
with the Blair family and was a guest at 10 Downing Street
on the night of his 40th birthday. Foster later claimed, on his 2004 ABC TV Enough Rope
appearance, that he believed his partner was pregnant with Tony Blair's child, the product of a long-standing extramarital affair. However, The Times
investigated the claims and found them "a catalogue of errors and inconsistencies" and an "elaborate hoax". Carole Caplin said about Fosters' claims: "This is just a new way for Peter to get attention. He is just a fantasist and these absurd stories shouldn't be given any credibility."
Foster claimed he had been accused in the media of being an agent for Israeli intelligence service Mossad
. He denied being one in a press statement made during the Cheriegate scandal. He also claimed "No one has ever lost money through my enterprises" and asked "Could it be I had to be discredited by the establishment?" The claim about lost money is disputed by Malcolm Brown who wrote that thousands have lost money.
, The Sun newspaper was found guilty of "one of the most serious forms of physical intrusion into privacy" by watchdogs over taped telephone calls involving Foster during the Cherigate scandal.
The press complaints commission condemned the paper for having published transcripts of conversations between him and his mother.
The Press Complaints Commission upheld Foster's case that there was no public interest in publishing the transcripts of the conversations, contrary to the argument of the former editor.
The Sun admitted it had behaved "improperly" in covering the Press Complaints Commission findings and publishing the adjudication.
The Press Complaints Commission rejected another complaint from Foster that articles of 13, 14 and 17 December 2002 were inaccurate. The complaints about these articles were:
of 2001, Foster invested more than F$1
million in the New Labour Unity Party
, a group which broke from the Fiji Labour Party
(FLP) in May 2001 in the wake of the coup d'état which deposed the FLP-led government in May 2000. Foster said he supported Dr Tupeni Baba
, the former Deputy Prime Minister, because he saw him as the "Nelson Mandela
of the South Pacific." Describing himself as a "freedom fighter for Fiji", he was concerned that there could be another coup if the FLP leader and former Prime Minister
Mahendra Chaudhry
, who had been deposed in the 2000 coup, returned to office.
accused Peter Foster of conning them into investing £150,000 into a company called Renuelle which marketed slimming products. This coincided with the Cheriegate controversy.
Peter Foster accused Paul Walsh of attempting to blackmail him, a charge which Walsh denied. Michael Dudley-Jones also made complaints to police.
Renuelle was also being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry on the grounds that he was effectively acting as its managing director, despite being barred from holding directorships in the UK for five years in September 2000 as a result of a conviction for using forged documents in an earlier slimming fraud in 1995.
, north of Dublin in Ireland
. He was selling alleged slimming pills called "Trimit" through a company called Bellethos and asking investors to buy franchise rights for €200,000.
Peter Foster was deported
from Ireland
to Australia in 2003 because of a two year prison sentence for fraud imposed in 1996 in Britain. The previous day he had landed at Dublin airport on a flight from Paris and was arrested, then spent the night in Mountjoy Prison
.
He had been deported from the UK shortly before after a holiday in France.
The Criminal Assets Bureau
began investigating him after Australian authorities started proceedings to freeze his assets as he was suspected of being involved in fraud involving slimming pills. The CAB liased with the Serious Fraud Office to examine bank accounts to see if Foster owned them.
about articles that appeared in The Courier-Mail
on 10, 11 and 12 March. He complained that the articles said he had "fleeced" or "duped" investors. The APC noted that although the Courier-Mail was "extremely tardy" in its response to complaints from Peter Foster, the paper published a clarification on its letters page on 7 October 2003 and agreed to make a note of the clarification on its online copies.
In a second complaint Peter Foster objected to the same paper referring to him as a "convicted conman" in items published on 4 and 29 July that year. The Press Council noted that Peter Foster had himself offered evidence of convictions dating back to 1982, resulting in a substantial fine and four separate periods of imprisonment. After complaints to the paper, it published a statement on 6 October that it had asked its staff to not refer to Peter Foster by that phrase.
Peter Foster made a separate complaint about an article in The Sydney Morning Herald
of 22 August which had referred to him as a "fraudster". He challenged the use of the word using the definition of fraud in the Macquarie Dictionary
, but the Press Council found that the word "fraudster" had been used accurately and dismissed his complaint.
in 2004 and 2007. On the programme he admitted he had been jailed in three different countries, that previously he had been charged with several crimes. He also claimed that he hadn't committed any offences since 1994, though the interviewer mentioned several convictions after that date.
. This was a civil action and not a criminal prosecution.
dismissed an appeal by Peter Foster against an order restraining his involvement in any business related to weight loss, cosmetic or health industry products or services for five years. The order was because of misleading behaviour about the efficacy of an alleged diet pill TRIMit, the Chaste business genuiness and the concealment of Peter Fosters' involvement.
Foster went on a hunger strike in hospital demanding that the police investigate the brutality of his arrest.
After being released from hospital Foster was handed over to authorities for questioning.
Police wanted to interview him about a range of matters. These included presenting a falsified police clearance certificate to immigration authorities in Fiji to obtain a work permit, obtaining loans from the Federated States of Micronesia
using some lease documents from Fiji, and impersonating a rival developer to discredit a resort development at Champagne Beach in the Yasawa Islands
.
Foster pleaded not guilty in Suva Magistrates Court on three charges: forgery, uttering forged documents and obtaining a work permit on forged documents. Foster was not granted bail at that stage and was sent to Suva's Korovou Prison for the night, before being released on bail the following day.
The Fiji Times
reported on 5 December 2006 that Foster had switched support to Frank Bainimarama
following the 2006 Fijian coup d'état
after being closely involved with deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
's political party before the election. Foster was also quoted as saying that "corruption in Fiji was out of control". Earlier, deposed Qarase had been quoted by the Fiji Village
news service on 26 October as admitting that the then-campaign minister of the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
(SDL) Party, Jale Baba
, had been in contact with Foster prior to the election, but insisted that Baba had acted without the authorization or knowledge of the party. On 21 December, Fiji Village quoted the Britain Times as claiming that Foster had negotiated an agreement with the Fijian Military to expose corruption in the deposed government in return for his own freedom.
It was reported, on 13 December 2006, that Foster could return to jail in Suva after Fiji's Department of Public Prosecutions had applied for him to be remanded in custody. The DPP made the application in response to Mr Foster's bid to have his bail conditions changed so he could move from house arrest at a Suva hotel to his home on Denarau Island
, off the coast of Nadi
on the western side of Viti Levu
, Fiji's largest island.
Foster had tendered an affidavit to the Suva
court by former Australian Federal Police
(AFP) officer Ian Eriksson that Foster worked as an informant for the AFP during the 1990s. Two other affidavits had been submitted from former solicitors to convince the court that Foster would not be a flight risk if he were allowed to move from house arrest in a Suva hotel back to his home near Nadi, a three-hour drive away.
Foster had concerned Fijian prosecutors by checking out of the hotel where he had been ordered to stay as per his bail conditions. Foster failed to appear in court after leaving Suva's JJ's on the Park hotel, where he had been under house arrest awaiting trial on fraud charges relating to his business dealings in the country in 2006. Foster told The Australian
that he had been given permission by the Suva court to return to his rented villa near Nadi in a decision by Fiji police.
On 2 January 2007, the military released what it said was a secretly obtained video of a restaurant conversation between Foster and Navitalai Naisoro, the electoral strategist of the SDL party. Naisoro told Foster that the 2006 elections
were rigged, with the full knowledge and cooperation of certain elements of the police. Several Cabinet Ministers
were implicated. Ousted Prime Minister Qarase angrily denied the claims. He suggested that the conversation recorded on video could have been staged.
Fiji Television
reported on 10 January 2007 that Foster, who was out of prison on bail, had disappeared.
were looking for Foster. Foster had been under house arrest in Fiji, but failed to appear in a Suva court on 9 January 2007. It was also mentioned that police are searching for him after reports he arrived in the capital Port Vila on a yacht. On 14 January, Foster was arrested in Vanuatu at 5:05 a.m. He appeared in court the next morning on charges related to his illegal entry
into the country on 8 December aboard Retriever 1 a former Australian minesweeper
. Despite Fosters' claim to be ill, a doctor declared that he was well.
On 2 February 2007 Foster was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment on a charge of entering Vanuatu without a valid visa. The sentence was backdated to the date of his arrest and he was fined 120,000 vatu ($A1,400). He was released from jail on 4 February after serving three weeks.
and a former lawyer. Both applications were dismissed by the judge after he found that Foster, who was representing himself, had failed to serve either defendant, thus obliging Foster to pay A$10,000 in costs.
banned the sale of SensaSlim with effect from 1 December 2011 for adverising breaches.
is Fiji's last hope, but to succeed, he needs Australia and other countries to stop hindering, and start helping him bring changes that will benefit the people of Fiji." Foster claimed that the 2006 elections were rigged by Laisenia Qarase, something denied by Qarase, who pointed to Foster's history as a conman.
Foster's claims puts him at odds with the Australian government.
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
products and property transactions.
He was also in the headlines following his involvement in helping Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
, wife of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
prime minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, buy properties in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
Foster sold his memoirs to a British publisher for $1.2 million.
In 2009, he announced he was planning to make a motion picture out of his career provided his publishers release him from their agreement.
History
Foster began marketing and selling products at an early age. Nicknamed “Kid Tycoon”, the "Milkshake Tycoon" and “The boy with the Midas Touch”, Foster was already promoting themed nights at a Gold Coast discothèque two years before he was legally allowed in the club, and became a boxing promoter at 17.When he was aged 20 he was fined by a court in Australia for attempting to make a fraudulent insurance claim when a boxing match that he was promoting fell through. The following year he was declared bankrupt in Australia after trying to market a product aimed at people who wanted to quit smoking.
In 1983, Foster became a television producer and filmed a documentary with Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
while living with Ali at his home near Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
.
Bai Lin Tea
Ali’s third wife, model Veronica AliVeronica Porsche Ali
Veronica Porsche Ali is an American professional psychologist and the former wife of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.Porsche was born in Louisiana on December 16, 1955 to Ethel and Horace Porche and is of Louisiana Creole descent...
, introduced him to Bai Lin, a Chinese diet tea.
Foster obtained the rights for Bai Lin Tea for Australia where it was major success; however he was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent authority of the Australia government. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974...
(ACCC). Despite not being charged with an offence, the product came under intense media scrutiny due to the claim that the product could result in weight loss. Foster expanded to South Africa, England and throughout Europe where he reportedly made over $30 million in the mid 1980s selling the tea, primarily in the United Kingdom.
In marketing the tea, Foster employed prominent people such as model Samantha Fox
Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modeling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl...
(whom he was dating), jockey Lester Piggott
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott is a retired English professional jockey, popularly known as "The Long Fellow". With 4,493 career wins, including nine Epsom Derby victories, he is one of the most well-known English flat racing jockeys of all time....
and Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
to endorse the tea and became a major sponsor of Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
in 1987 with the team wearing the Bai Lin Tea logo on their jerseys. He was fined £21,000 in 1994 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for a trading standards offence over Bai Lin Tea and in 1996 was jailed for breaching laws regarding his distribution of slimming granules. Nine months later he absconded while on day release from open prison and went to Australia, though he was subsequently re-arrested and extradited back to England.
Testing showed Bai Lin Tea to be ordinary black China tea. Samantha Fox had grown distant from him as she later admitted:
Some time later Foster suggested that he and Fox make a film about their lives, but she sent a refusal via her lawyer.
Chow Low Tea
Following the Bai Lin Tea venture, he subsequently promoted a similar product, Chow Low Tea, in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. After publishing an advertisement that claimed that the tea lowered the cholesterol
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...
levels of its consumers and placing these in newspapers across the US, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, he was convicted of a trading standards offence and sentenced to four months in prison. Under California law, where he was based, it was an offence to state that a food product could lower cholesterol (Sherman Food and Drug Act).
In September 2000 he was jailed at St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
for using fraudulent documents to obtain credit for a company that sold thigh-reduction cream. The judge said "The sooner you go from the country the better." As Foster had served time on remand
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
he was released and went to Australia.
Foster went on to become a marketer worldwide of lotions and potions, pills and patches sold as health and beauty products. He used celebrity endorsement to promote his brands. He was one of the first to realise the selling power of celebrity.
Cherie Blair controversy
Foster's involvement in the 2002 controversy involving Cherie BlairCherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
(sometimes known as "Cheriegate") became known when it was revealed that he was the financial advisor to Blair and assisted her with the purchase of two flats in Bristol. Cherie Blair tried to distance herself from Foster and released a public statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the property deal. The Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
newspaper provided email evidence to the contrary; in one email between Blair and Foster she described him as "a star" and said, "We are on the same wave length, Peter."
Blair went public herself, tearfully reading a prepared statement blaming her "misfortune" on the pressures of running a family and being a mother. Cherie and Tony Blair at one time agreed to be Godparents to the yet-to-be born child of Foster and his partner Carole Caplin
Carole Caplin
Carole Caplin was the style adviser to Cherie Blair and a fitness adviser to Tony Blair, when he was the British Prime Minister...
, who later miscarried. Foster also celebrated Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
with the Blair family and was a guest at 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
on the night of his 40th birthday. Foster later claimed, on his 2004 ABC TV Enough Rope
Enough Rope
Enough Rope with Andrew Denton is a television interview show originally broadcast on ABC Television in Australia...
appearance, that he believed his partner was pregnant with Tony Blair's child, the product of a long-standing extramarital affair. However, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
investigated the claims and found them "a catalogue of errors and inconsistencies" and an "elaborate hoax". Carole Caplin said about Fosters' claims: "This is just a new way for Peter to get attention. He is just a fantasist and these absurd stories shouldn't be given any credibility."
Foster claimed he had been accused in the media of being an agent for Israeli intelligence service Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
. He denied being one in a press statement made during the Cheriegate scandal. He also claimed "No one has ever lost money through my enterprises" and asked "Could it be I had to be discredited by the establishment?" The claim about lost money is disputed by Malcolm Brown who wrote that thousands have lost money.
Complaints to Press Complaints Commission
Following a complaint to the Press Complaints CommissionPress Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission is a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC is funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines...
, The Sun newspaper was found guilty of "one of the most serious forms of physical intrusion into privacy" by watchdogs over taped telephone calls involving Foster during the Cherigate scandal.
The press complaints commission condemned the paper for having published transcripts of conversations between him and his mother.
The Press Complaints Commission upheld Foster's case that there was no public interest in publishing the transcripts of the conversations, contrary to the argument of the former editor.
The Sun admitted it had behaved "improperly" in covering the Press Complaints Commission findings and publishing the adjudication.
The Press Complaints Commission rejected another complaint from Foster that articles of 13, 14 and 17 December 2002 were inaccurate. The complaints about these articles were:
- That the transcripts were edited to distort the meaning of the conversations. The Commission found that there was no evidence of this.
- Foster disputed the paper's claims that he had tried to sell his story to [Granada Television], though the Press Complaints Commission concluded that as he had appeared to try to sell the story any inaccuracy about the company he had tried to sell the story to was not significant.
- The commission concluded that The Sun was entitled under the code to express its view that Foster had tried to "ruin" Tony Blair and that the paper had not breached the code when it had claimed on 17 December that Foster had not told the truth in a statement to the press.
Fiji 2000–2001
Prior to the parliamentary electionFiji election of 2001
The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. On 1 March 2001, the Appeal Court upheld the decision. An election to...
of 2001, Foster invested more than F$1
Fijian dollar
The dollar has been the currency of Fiji since 1969 and was also the currency between 1867 and 1873. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively FJ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
million in the New Labour Unity Party
New Labour Unity Party (Fiji)
The New Labour Unity Party was a Fijian political party, which broke away from the Fiji Labour Party in May 2001. It was founded by Tupeni Baba, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Party stalwart, who had become dissatisfied with Mahendra Chaudhry's leadership and expressed fears that if...
, a group which broke from the Fiji Labour Party
Fiji Labour Party
The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji, which holds observer status with the Socialist International. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. It is...
(FLP) in May 2001 in the wake of the coup d'état which deposed the FLP-led government in May 2000. Foster said he supported Dr Tupeni Baba
Tupeni Baba
Tupeni Lebaivalu Baba is a Fijian academic and politician, who founded the now-defunct New Labour Unity Party. Most members of this party later merged with several other centrist parties to form the Fiji Democratic Party...
, the former Deputy Prime Minister, because he saw him as the "Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
of the South Pacific." Describing himself as a "freedom fighter for Fiji", he was concerned that there could be another coup if the FLP leader and former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Fiji
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji is the head of government of Fiji. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President under the terms of the now-suspended 1997 constitution....
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...
, who had been deposed in the 2000 coup, returned to office.
2002 UK fraud investigation
Former business partners including Paul WalshPaul Walsh
Paul Anthony Walsh is a retired English footballer.Walsh was a diminutive and pacy centre forward who shot to fame in the 1980s during spells with Charlton, Luton, Liverpool and Tottenham.-Charlton Athletic:...
accused Peter Foster of conning them into investing £150,000 into a company called Renuelle which marketed slimming products. This coincided with the Cheriegate controversy.
Peter Foster accused Paul Walsh of attempting to blackmail him, a charge which Walsh denied. Michael Dudley-Jones also made complaints to police.
Renuelle was also being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry on the grounds that he was effectively acting as its managing director, despite being barred from holding directorships in the UK for five years in September 2000 as a result of a conviction for using forged documents in an earlier slimming fraud in 1995.
Ireland
In 2002 Peter Foster was living in MalahideMalahide
Malahide is a coastal suburban town, near Dublin city, located in the administrative county of Fingal, within the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. It has a village-like centre and extensive residential areas to the south, west and northwest.-Name:...
, north of Dublin in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. He was selling alleged slimming pills called "Trimit" through a company called Bellethos and asking investors to buy franchise rights for €200,000.
Peter Foster was deported
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
from Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
to Australia in 2003 because of a two year prison sentence for fraud imposed in 1996 in Britain. The previous day he had landed at Dublin airport on a flight from Paris and was arrested, then spent the night in Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison , founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.The current prison governor is Mr...
.
He had been deported from the UK shortly before after a holiday in France.
The Criminal Assets Bureau
Criminal Assets Bureau
The Criminal Assets Bureau is a law enforcement agency in Ireland, the purpose of which is to recover the proceeds of organised crime. It is a division of the Garda , but reports annually to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform...
began investigating him after Australian authorities started proceedings to freeze his assets as he was suspected of being involved in fraud involving slimming pills. The CAB liased with the Serious Fraud Office to examine bank accounts to see if Foster owned them.
Complaints to Australian Press Council
In 2003 Peter Foster complained to the Australian Press CouncilAustralian Press Council
The Australian Press Council is the self-regulatory body of the Australian print media. It was established in 1976 and is a private organisation. Its aims are to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press within Australia and to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically...
about articles that appeared in The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
on 10, 11 and 12 March. He complained that the articles said he had "fleeced" or "duped" investors. The APC noted that although the Courier-Mail was "extremely tardy" in its response to complaints from Peter Foster, the paper published a clarification on its letters page on 7 October 2003 and agreed to make a note of the clarification on its online copies.
In a second complaint Peter Foster objected to the same paper referring to him as a "convicted conman" in items published on 4 and 29 July that year. The Press Council noted that Peter Foster had himself offered evidence of convictions dating back to 1982, resulting in a substantial fine and four separate periods of imprisonment. After complaints to the paper, it published a statement on 6 October that it had asked its staff to not refer to Peter Foster by that phrase.
Peter Foster made a separate complaint about an article in The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
of 22 August which had referred to him as a "fraudster". He challenged the use of the word using the definition of fraud in the Macquarie Dictionary
Macquarie Dictionary
The Macquarie Dictionary is a dictionary of Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand English. Originally it was a publishing project of Jacaranda Press, a Brisbane educational publisher, for which an editorial committee was formed, largely from the Linguistics...
, but the Press Council found that the word "fraudster" had been used accurately and dismissed his complaint.
Enough Rope interview
Peter Foster appeared on Enough RopeEnough Rope
Enough Rope with Andrew Denton is a television interview show originally broadcast on ABC Television in Australia...
in 2004 and 2007. On the programme he admitted he had been jailed in three different countries, that previously he had been charged with several crimes. He also claimed that he hadn't committed any offences since 1994, though the interviewer mentioned several convictions after that date.
2005 penalties in Australia
In September 2005, both Peter Foster and his company Chaste Corporation were fined for resale price maintenanceResale price maintenance
Resale price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the latter will sell the former's product at certain prices , at or above a price floor or at or below a price ceiling...
. This was a civil action and not a criminal prosecution.
2006 Australian appeal dismissal
In 2006 the Full Federal CourtFederal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
dismissed an appeal by Peter Foster against an order restraining his involvement in any business related to weight loss, cosmetic or health industry products or services for five years. The order was because of misleading behaviour about the efficacy of an alleged diet pill TRIMit, the Chaste business genuiness and the concealment of Peter Fosters' involvement.
Fiji 2006
On 25 October 2006, having fallen out with the Qarase government, Foster was arrested by Fiji police. He suffered a head gash and was taken to hospital in Suva. Police attributed the injury to Foster hitting his head on the propeller of a boat, which he disputed, claiming that police had assaulted him. Dr. Ifeireini Waqainabete said that patients with a head injury like Fosters would normally be sent home, but he would stay at the hospital for the weekend as he had nowhere in Suva to stay. He also remarked that Fosters injuries were consistent with the police account.Foster went on a hunger strike in hospital demanding that the police investigate the brutality of his arrest.
After being released from hospital Foster was handed over to authorities for questioning.
Police wanted to interview him about a range of matters. These included presenting a falsified police clearance certificate to immigration authorities in Fiji to obtain a work permit, obtaining loans from the Federated States of Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia or FSM is an independent, sovereign island nation, made up of four states from west to east: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. It comprises approximately 607 islands with c...
using some lease documents from Fiji, and impersonating a rival developer to discredit a resort development at Champagne Beach in the Yasawa Islands
Yasawa Islands
The Yasawa Group is an archipelago of about 20 volcanic islands in the Western Division of Fiji, with an approximate total area of 135 square kilometers.- Geography :The Yasawa volcanic group consists of six main islands and numerous smaller islets...
.
Foster pleaded not guilty in Suva Magistrates Court on three charges: forgery, uttering forged documents and obtaining a work permit on forged documents. Foster was not granted bail at that stage and was sent to Suva's Korovou Prison for the night, before being released on bail the following day.
The Fiji Times
Fiji Times
The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....
reported on 5 December 2006 that Foster had switched support to Frank Bainimarama
Frank Bainimarama
Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, CF, MSD, OStJ, Fijian Navy, known commonly as Frank Bainimarama and sometimes by the chiefly title Ratu , is a Fijian naval officer and politician. He is the Commander of the Fijian Military Forces and, as of April 2009, Prime Minister...
following the 2006 Fijian coup d'état
2006 Fijian coup d'état
The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 occurred as a continuation of the pressure which had been building since the military unrest of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and 2005-2006 Fijian political crisis....
after being closely involved with deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...
's political party before the election. Foster was also quoted as saying that "corruption in Fiji was out of control". Earlier, deposed Qarase had been quoted by the Fiji Village
Fiji Village
The Fiji Village is an online news service in Fiji. Published daily, it covers political, business, sporting, cultural, and other news items, and also includes the Yellow Bucket commentary, an editorial which does not necessarily reflect the views of the Fiji Village owners or staff, according to...
news service on 26 October as admitting that the then-campaign minister of the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua is a political party in Fiji...
(SDL) Party, Jale Baba
Jale Baba
Jale Baba is a Fijian businessman and political organizer. A forestry graduate of the Australian National University, he worked for Fiji Pine Limited for more than 20 years, before leaving in 1999 to start his own company- Baba Forests. He also serves as the campaign director of the ruling...
, had been in contact with Foster prior to the election, but insisted that Baba had acted without the authorization or knowledge of the party. On 21 December, Fiji Village quoted the Britain Times as claiming that Foster had negotiated an agreement with the Fijian Military to expose corruption in the deposed government in return for his own freedom.
It was reported, on 13 December 2006, that Foster could return to jail in Suva after Fiji's Department of Public Prosecutions had applied for him to be remanded in custody. The DPP made the application in response to Mr Foster's bid to have his bail conditions changed so he could move from house arrest at a Suva hotel to his home on Denarau Island
Denarau Island
Denarau Island is a small island in Fiji, and the name of the resort area on the island. It is connected by a short causeway to Viti Levu and is 20 minutes drive from Nadi International Airport. The island includes resorts operated by major upscale international chains such as Sheraton, Radisson,...
, off the coast of Nadi
Nadi
Nadi is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. Nadi is multiracial with many of its inhabitants Indian or Fijian, along with a large transient population of foreign...
on the western side of Viti Levu
Viti Levu
Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...
, Fiji's largest island.
Foster had tendered an affidavit to the Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
court by former Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP) officer Ian Eriksson that Foster worked as an informant for the AFP during the 1990s. Two other affidavits had been submitted from former solicitors to convince the court that Foster would not be a flight risk if he were allowed to move from house arrest in a Suva hotel back to his home near Nadi, a three-hour drive away.
Foster had concerned Fijian prosecutors by checking out of the hotel where he had been ordered to stay as per his bail conditions. Foster failed to appear in court after leaving Suva's JJ's on the Park hotel, where he had been under house arrest awaiting trial on fraud charges relating to his business dealings in the country in 2006. Foster told The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
that he had been given permission by the Suva court to return to his rented villa near Nadi in a decision by Fiji police.
On 2 January 2007, the military released what it said was a secretly obtained video of a restaurant conversation between Foster and Navitalai Naisoro, the electoral strategist of the SDL party. Naisoro told Foster that the 2006 elections
Fiji election of 2006
The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. The latest election was held on 6-13 May 2006. Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi issued a proclamation on 2 March, effective from 27 March, dissolving Parliament...
were rigged, with the full knowledge and cooperation of certain elements of the police. Several Cabinet Ministers
Cabinet (Fiji)
Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...
were implicated. Ousted Prime Minister Qarase angrily denied the claims. He suggested that the conversation recorded on video could have been staged.
Fiji Television
Fiji Television
Fiji Television Limited is Fiji's television network. It was founded on 15 June 1994 as the first permanent television broadcasting network in the country, although television had previously been introduced temporarily in October 1991 to broadcast the Rugby World Cup as well as Cricket World Cup....
reported on 10 January 2007 that Foster, who was out of prison on bail, had disappeared.
Vanuatu
On 11 January 2007 it was reported that police in VanuatuVanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
were looking for Foster. Foster had been under house arrest in Fiji, but failed to appear in a Suva court on 9 January 2007. It was also mentioned that police are searching for him after reports he arrived in the capital Port Vila on a yacht. On 14 January, Foster was arrested in Vanuatu at 5:05 a.m. He appeared in court the next morning on charges related to his illegal entry
Illegal entry
Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
into the country on 8 December aboard Retriever 1 a former Australian minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
. Despite Fosters' claim to be ill, a doctor declared that he was well.
On 2 February 2007 Foster was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment on a charge of entering Vanuatu without a valid visa. The sentence was backdated to the date of his arrest and he was fined 120,000 vatu ($A1,400). He was released from jail on 4 February after serving three weeks.
2007 conviction in Australia
In 2007 Foster pleaded guilty to forging documents related to $300,000 that he obtained fraudulently from the National Bank of the Federated States of Micronesia. He was released on parole at the start of May 2009 after serving eighteen months of a four-and-a-half-year sentence.2009 Australian legal actions
In May 2009 Foster tried taking cases against Associated NewspapersAssociated Newspapers
Associated Newspapers is a large national newspaper publisher in the UK, which is a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust. The group was established in 1905 and is currently based at Northcliffe House in Kensington...
and a former lawyer. Both applications were dismissed by the judge after he found that Foster, who was representing himself, had failed to serve either defendant, thus obliging Foster to pay A$10,000 in costs.
2011 Arrest in Australia
On November 18, 2011 Peter Foster was arrested by Australian Federal Police officers and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission officials. It is believed the charges are in relation to diet spray company SensaSlim Australia which is facing charges of misleading and deceptive conduct. The Therapeutic Goods AdministrationTherapeutic Goods Administration
The Therapeutic Goods Administration is the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia . It is a Division of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing established under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 ...
banned the sale of SensaSlim with effect from 1 December 2011 for adverising breaches.
Fiji claims in 2009
Foster claimed in August 2009 that he wanted to broker a peace deal between Australia and Fiji. He said that the 2006 coup was the coup 'Fiji had to have' and that "It is my belief that Commodore Frank BainimaramaFrank Bainimarama
Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, CF, MSD, OStJ, Fijian Navy, known commonly as Frank Bainimarama and sometimes by the chiefly title Ratu , is a Fijian naval officer and politician. He is the Commander of the Fijian Military Forces and, as of April 2009, Prime Minister...
is Fiji's last hope, but to succeed, he needs Australia and other countries to stop hindering, and start helping him bring changes that will benefit the people of Fiji." Foster claimed that the 2006 elections were rigged by Laisenia Qarase, something denied by Qarase, who pointed to Foster's history as a conman.
Foster's claims puts him at odds with the Australian government.