Partner of ex-restaurateur Daniel Milos slapped with $2.4m tax bill

The defacto partner of an ex-Brisbane restaurateur who trafficked cocaine from his fine-dining establishment has been hit with a lawsuit demanding she pay a $2.4m tax bill.

The defacto partner of a former Queensland restaurateur who trafficked cocaine from his fine-dining eatery has been slapped with a lawsuit demanding she pay a $2.4m tax bill.

Wendy Sue Hartzenberg, 45, from Middle Park in Brisbane’s southwestern suburbs, is the partner of Daniel Milos, 45, who has admitted supplying coke from his restaurant by using menu codewords and Uber Eats bags.

Mr Milos pleaded guilty two years ago to 13 charges, including 10 counts of cocaine supply, in the Supreme Court in Brisbane in relation to using Uber Eats bags and organising for buyers to pick up ­drugs from his chef.

It’s not suggested Ms Hartzenberg has anything to do with her partner’s offending.

Late last month, the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation filed a claim in the Supreme Court alleging Ms Hartzenberg owes $2,413,645, and served the claim on her at the $1m home she co-owns with Mr Milos in Middle Park.

Property records show the pair still own the home together.

Daniel Milos at Barolos restaurant. Picture: Instagram

The claim states that the debt includes $1.2m in total income tax debt – from amended assessments issued for the tax years from June 2013, June 2015, and June 2016 – as well as penalties of $1m and shortfall interest charges of $129,383.

The penalty notices were issued in 2018, the claim states.

South African-born Ms Hartzenberg is a former director of the company Mariosarti Pty Ltd, renamed Baccus Pty Ltd in 2019.

Mr Milos stood down as a director in 2018 and his late brother Peter was a director for five years until 2013.

Ms Hartzenberg is also named as Mr Milos’s defacto in court documents filed in a proceeds-of-crime application in the Supreme Court, where authorities succeeded in their bid to claw back $128,000 Mr Milos made selling 16 ounces (454g) of cocaine through a middle man in eight ­“controlled buys” in 2017.

Wendy Sue Hartzenberg is the partner of Daniel Milos. Picture Facebook

In that case, Mr Milos got the green light from the judge to use the proceeds of the sale of his share in a Fig Tree Pocket home to pay the mortgage of his Middle Park home.

Mr Milos’s restaurant where he trafficked cocaine was called Mariosarti, and was on Sherwood Rd in Toowong. It attracted Brisbane’s elite.

It now trades as Barolos Italian restaurant, and, which according to company searches, is owned by the chef Jeremy Webster.

However, Mr Milos has featured in social media posts for the restaurant.

Mr Webster is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Mr Milos’s guilty plea came after police named him as the “principal target” of a joint Queensland Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission operation targeting cocaine trafficking.

Former Brisbane restaurateur Daniel Milos. Picture: Facebook

Mr Milos has pleaded guilty to charges of supplying $128,000 worth of cocaine to a “law enforcement participant” in eight controlled buys in February, March and April 2017.

He has also pleaded guilty to a supply charge related to telling Ryan McIver, then head chef at Mariosarti in Toowong, to supply a customer with a “full feed of ragu”, code for cocaine, at the restaurant on October 1, 2016.

Mr Milos’s younger brother and business partner Peter was bludgeoned to death with a spirit level and a hammer in 2014 in a Morningisde home.

A man charged with his murder was acquitted at trial in 2017 and the court heard Peter Milos had dealt a “bad batch” of drugs before his death and was locked in a feud with a rival dealer when he was killed.

No defence has been filed in the tax case and no date has been set for hearing.