Warrant issued for Peter Foster but lawyer admits serial conman is missing

A warrant has been issued for serial conman Peter Foster’s arrest but his lawyer has told a Sydney court his client has gone missing.

A warrant has been issued for serial conman Peter Foster’s arrest but his lawyer has told a Sydney court his client has gone missing.

Foster, 58, was mentioned in Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday after being arrested on a Queensland beach last year and extradited to NSW over allegations he duped a Hong Kong man into sending him $1.89m worth of Bitcoin.

Peter Foster leaves the Downing Centre Court in Sydney on April 21. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

But last March authorities admitted to the court charges should have been brought against Foster in Queensland because there were jurisdictional issues with prosecuting him in NSW.

Defence lawyer Justin Lewis told the court the DPP had agreed to withdraw all 16 fraud charges against Foster in NSW so Queensland authorities could issue the arrest warrant.

However, when asked by Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson why Foster had not attended court, Mr Lewis said his client was “unable to be located”.

“In other words, you can’t find Mr Foster,” Mr Henson said.

“That is the case,” Mr Lewis replied.

Mr Henson then agreed to formally withdraw and dismiss the charges.

Earlier Mr Lewis had told the court: “My client was at my office, I saw him with my own eyes … he conveyed to me that he was coming down to court and I haven’t been able to locate him since.”

Prosecutors confirmed to the court Queensland authorities had issued the warrant for Foster’s arrest.

However, a NSW Police spokeswoman said officers did not know where Foster was.

“NSW Police will be assisting Queensland Police. His current whereabouts are unknown,” she said.

Police had alleged Foster used the alias “Bill Dawson” in an effort to defraud the Hong Kong man of the money via Bitcoin through a gambling company called Sport Predictions.

He has effectively been under house arrest at a friend’s Dover Heights property and is banned from having a phone or internet access under his strict bail conditions.