Conman’s colourful life ‘set to become Netflix show’

Notorious conman Peter Foster is eyeing a “very honest” Netflix series that chronicles his colorful life as he battles multiple fraud charges.

The self-proclaimed “international man of mischief” said he was hopeful of developing a series based on his epic autobiography and that production companies were lining up to tell his story.

Wearing a cowboy hat outside a Gold Coast court, Foster said he was confident his latest accusations would be dismissed as he tried to seal the Netflix deal.

The 63-year-old man faces multiple fraud charges involving nearly $2 million in bitcoin investments in sports gambling.

Foster revealed he had written an 800,000-word autobiography after a decades-long history of fraud, including a slimming tea scam in Australia and the UK.

“It will show the Netflix people that I’m not a one-trick pony,” he said of his autobiography, which he proudly claimed was longer than War and Peace.

“For those who have decided that Peter Foster is Australia’s biggest fraudster, nothing will change their minds.

“We had eight attempts by very large production companies to make (my autobiography) a TV series.”

Writing his autobiography was therapeutic, he said.

“I think this is a very honest biography. I’m not trying to rewrite history. I accept every mistake I’ve made.”

Foster appeared in Southport Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday on five charges of fraud of at least $100,000 and one count of fraud of more than $30,000.

He is also accused of taking the identities of two people for the purpose of committing a crime and creating fake videos about his financial interests.

“These charges in Queensland will be dismissed,” Foster said outside the court.

Foster is accused of persuading a man in Port Douglas to transfer GBP50,000 ($101,000) to him in 2020.

He is also accused of persuading a second man on the Gold Coast to transfer digital currency worth more than $100,000 to a company called Sports Predictions Trading between November 2019 and January 2020.

Foster has yet to formally enter a plea but told the court he was “confident he has not committed any offence”.

“He maintains that his activities in support of the so-called Sports Predictions Business were legitimate and lawful at all times,” Foster’s attorney, Chris Hannay, said in an affidavit. he said.

“He was appointed to support a genuine scheme to seek returns through betting on international sporting events.”

Foster said the charges were linked to a failed NSW criminal case in which he was accused of defrauding millions of dollars in bitcoin before his dramatic televised arrest on a beach in northern Queensland.

Foster received a $170,000 reward from NSW Police in March after a judge found his arrest in Port Douglas in 2020 for the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program was not reasonable and appropriate.

“I’m probably the least likely person the judiciary would want to award compensation to… it says a lot that this is just a farce,” Foster said.

Foster sought $6 million for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution arising from the NSW matter.

“I’m sure they’ll get along,” he said.

Mr Hannay had previously told the court the Queensland charges were “based on the same factual allegations” as the NSW matter.

Mr Hannay asked magistrate Jane Bentley for more time to await the outcome of the application to the NSW Supreme Court on November 24.

“We expect the publication of a series of documents that will definitively conclude this matter,” he said.

Ms Bentley decided to adjourn the hearing until February 24 and granted Foster bail.