Melbourne chiropractor Warren Sipser guilty of $90 million cocaine plot
A well known Melbourne chiropractor has fallen from A-list clientele to a maximum security jail cell after copping to a bungled cocaine plot.
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A prominent Melbourne chiropractor has pleaded guilty over a $90 million cocaine bust.
Warren Sipser has fallen from A-list clientele to a maximum security jail cell over the bungled plot in which he shipped 120kg of liquid cocaine from South Africa to Melbourne.
Sipser, the former husband of socialite and wellness advocate Andi Lew, has spent the past 26 months on remand after Australian Federal Police agents brought the scheme undone in mid- 2018.
His descent from private school prefect to prison was formalised last week when he pleaded guilty in the County Court over the ill-fated shipment, organised on eBay.
Sipser will be sentenced later this year on one charge of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and one charge of possessing a controlled drug.
Prosecutors at an earlier bail hearing alleged the 44-year-old bought a consignment of wine through eBay on June 23, 2018.
When it arrived in Sydney, addressed to Sipser, it came with supporting documents which predated the purchase date.
Agents replaced the original cargo with replica bottles containing an inert substitute and let the shipment continue under surveillance.
The bottles were delivered to Sipser’s Elwood clinic while he was at Crown Casino in what police suspected was an attempt to distance himself when they arrived.
He was allegedly later observed examining the consignment eight times in two hours.
It was then collected by two men, who were arrested in a highway intercept at Tallarook, north of Melbourne, and later released without charge.
Cocaine was present in 343 of the 600 bottles originally sent, Australian Border Force testing later showed.
Sipser was arrested in December, 2018, at his Ormond Rd clinic.
A 2019 bail hearing was told searches of Sipser’s home and businesses uncovered 79 grams of cocaine, scales and empty capsules.
Sipser grew up in the South African city of Johannesburg where he was head prefect and a rugby firsts vice-captain at the prestigious King David Victory Park school.
The fitness fanatic later settled in Melbourne, building a successful practice and having a son with Ms Lew.
The couple split almost a decade ago.
Sipser’s only previous court appearance experience appears to have been in providing a report in a 2015 bail application by bikie strongman Toby Mitchell.
He had treated Mitchell for his renal function.
The Herald Sun is not suggesting Mitchell was involved with Sipser’s crimes.
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