Peter Foster fronts Sydney court over alleged $2m sports betting scam

Peter Foster, who was arrested on a Port Douglas beach before his extradition to Sydney on Monday night, has fronted court over an alleged multimillion dollar sports betting scam.

• Peter Foster’s bizarre exit from Cairns

With the words “my name is William Dawson” serial con artist Peter Foster allegedly duped a Hong Kong man into sending him $1.89 million worth of Bitcoin in five transactions.

Sydney City detectives charged Foster with 16 alleged offences on Monday following his extradition from Queensland.

The 51-year-old did not apply for bail when his case, relating to a new alleged sports betting scam, was briefly mentioned at Central Local Court.

Five of the offences were publishing false and misleading material - each for allegedly using the phrase “my name is William (Bill) Dawson”.

He was also charged with 10 counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception and one count of dealing with proceeds of crime.

Peter Foster being police escorted through Cairns airport on route to Sydney. Picture: Stewart McLean

Under the alias of Mr Dawson, Foster allegedly received Bitcoin belonging to a man named Konstantinos Stylianopoulos in five transactions between April, 2019 and January this year.

The largest single transaction was $890,187.50, sent to a cryptocurrency account allegedly controlled by Foster. It is alleged he used an account at Independent Reserve, a cryptocurrency exchange on Kent St in Sydney, to access the Bitcoin.

Foster was sensationally crash tackled by detectives as he walked his dogs along a beach in Port Douglas on Thursday, following a lengthy probe by detectives and private investigators.

Wearing a Hawaiian-style party shirt and handcuffs, he was escorted back on a flight to Sydney Airport on Monday night.

The case was adjourned to October 22.

Peter Foster leaves Cairns airport after being arrested over the weekend. Picture: Twitter

Peter Foster is crash tackled and arrested on a remote beach in Queensland. Picture: Channel 9

It is alleged that Foster was involved in a sports betting scam. Picture: Channel 9

Police say Foster, 57, was running the scam from Far North Queensland for the past few weeks while also concocting a plan to flee the country on a luxury yacht.

Recordings of his voice allegedly helped police link the disgraced businessman to the scheme.

According to police allegations, Foster made contact with the investor last year and enticed him to invest in Sports Predictions, which invited punters to hand over their money to wage bets with the help of mathematical experts.