Anthony Hess: from celebrity socialite to alleged drug importer
Party animal and clout chaser Anthony Hess spent years rubbing shoulders with celebrities until his unlikely arrest on major drug charges.
Police & Courts
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Nobody knew where Anthony “Hot Mess” Hess came from, or how he managed to sniff out tickets to just about every celebrity shindig in the country.
For years, the former Qantas steward and self-styled drama queen seemed to have access to a bottomless pit of money from his day job as a Bitcoin trader.
Now, the celebrity hanger-on spends his days alone in a cell on remand, abandoned by his fair weather friends and out of touch with his estranged family.
When asked this week whether he had spoken to his embattled son since his shocking arrest last week, Mr Hess’s father, Bill, said he and his family were in the dark.
“We don’t know what happened,” he said.
The Herald Sun has pieced together Mr Hess’s bizarre transformation from a misfit Tasmanian teenager into an image-obsessed clout chaser and, finally, an alleged player in a major drug syndicate.
Mr Hess grew up in the small town of Davenport, where a close friend said he “always wanted to be someone”.
“He lived there until he was about 18, then lived in Hobart for a couple of years,” the friend said.
Mr Hess got his first glimpse of the high life working as a steward for Qantas.
“It was San Francisco one day, Singapore the next, London the day after,” a former colleague said.
“He fit the stereotype – a young, gay airline steward, partying all night between flights.”
Around 2017, Mr Hess ditched his job and seemingly took up partying full time, telling friends he was making eye-watering amounts as a Bitcoin trader.
Those close to him were astonished to see Mr Hess go from a virtual nobody to rubbing shoulders with celebrities.
“I don’t know how he did it or where the money came from for this lavish lifestyle he flaunted online,” his childhood friend said.
Among those Mr Hess partied with over the years were former bikie boss Toby Mitchell, Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton, and former Collingwood bad boy Dane Swan.
Even former prime minister Tony Abbott posed for a selfie with Mr Hess.
“He created this image of a z-grade celebrity the last few years,” a former friend said.
“He craves attention and the limelight.”
While Mr Hess loved drama, he hated trouble, and his fraternising with Melbourne gangland figures quickly turned sour.
While relaxing with former Mongol bikie boss Toby Mitchell at the swank Gilson Cafe on Domain Rd, South Yarra, Mitchell turned on the socialite, slapping him and leaving him in such a fearful state that he left Australia the next day.
After the arrest of Mr Hess, Mitchell jumped onto Instagram with venom.
“Every dog has their day,” he wrote alongside Herald Sun coverage of his target’s predicament.
After leaving Australia, Mr Hess spent much of his time in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, but his former friendship with Mitchell made him “red hot”.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, he accused the Australian Federal Police of having United States immigration officials cancel his visa because of his association with bikies.
When he arrived back in Australia, he had $20,000 worth of prescribed human growth hormones on him, and Border Force officials confiscated his phone for five days.
“They (Australian Border Force officers) were also asking questions about Toby. It was like they were waiting and pounced on me,” Hess said.
Unknown to him, Mr Hess had also come to the attention of a gun team of detectives working on a joint AFP and Victoria police operation code-named Rhynolite.
It is a taskforce which does not fish for small fry.
The Herald Sun understands detectives watched Mr Hess for many months, slowly building a case against him and gathering intelligence on those higher up in his alleged syndicate.
Prosecutors will allege he attempted to import 4kg of methamphetamine, 4kg of cocaine and 1kg of ketamine.
He was remanded in custody and the Herald Sun understands he has been segregated from other prisoners since being detained.
Authorities believe his celebrity background, among other things, would make him a potential target for violence and standovers if he was exposed to the general prison population.
Mr Hess is the sixth person to be arrested in relation to the alleged drug ring, which has so far seen 35kg seized in air cargo shipments.
“He would be shitting himself in jail,” his childhood friend said.
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