Key figure in Sports Trading Club arrested

Australian conman Peter Foster was arrested under a Federal warrant Tuesday by New South Wales Police at an upmarket property near Byron Bay.

Foster is thought to, at the very least, be a key player in the international gambling syndicate Sports Trading Club that boasts offices in London, Sydney and Hong Kong.

The Sports Trading Club, also know as STC Sports Trading Club and The Sports Trading Club Partnership, takes investments between $50 000 and $250 000 to bet on international sporting events. The company claimed in July to have taken $150 million in backing Germany to win the World Cup in Brazil, and a multi-million dollar sum betting against Williams and Djokovic at the Australian Tennis Open 2014.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), “hundreds of investors in an international gambling syndicate run by notorious conman Peter Foster could lose millions of dollars…”

SMH quoted sources as saying authorities confiscated six mobile phones and several computers from the property near Byron Bay following a dramatic arrest where Foster allegedly assaulted a police officer after grabbing his gun.

“It doesn’t matter what they claim on their website, Fosters’ home in Byron Bay was the headquarters. This is another massive scam that is only coming to light now. It will collapse like a house of cards,” the source was quoted as saying.

Sports Trading Club dealings appear dubious at best with reports of false Linked In senior executive profiles and the fabrication of quotes from a deceased Princeton analyst.

The company was founded two months after a similar gambling firm Sportalists closed its doors following a TV expose in 2012. The expose revealed Foster’s involvement in the company.

Foster may be more widely known for his role in what was dubbed “Cheriegate” in 2012, where he assisted the sale of two apartments in Bristol to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie.

But Foster’s arrest this week stems from dealings that go even further back where he has been accused and convicted of running weight loss scams in the multi-million dollar dieting industry over the past 30 years, going so far as to have one of those products endorsed by the Duchess of York.

An Australian court found Foster guilty in relation to one of many weight loss scams but when he failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in November last year a Federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

The arrest is expected to trigger an in-depth investigation into Sports Trading Club by Australian authorities.