Federal Court Declares Peter Foster Bankrupt

The Federal Court has declared Peter Foster bankrupt, granting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) an application for a sequestration order after he failed to pay court costs over a weight loss program known as SensaSlim. See previous TimeBase article on court action against SensaSlim.

Background

The ACCC has had dealings with Mr Foster on numerous occasions over a 30 year period.  He has been convicted of a range of offences in several countries, including forgery, fraud, money laundering, contempt of court, and assaulting police, and has been banned from serving as a company director).

The bankruptcy declaration resulted from proceedings the ACCC had instituted in July 2011, against SensaSlim, Peter Foster and others. In April 2014, the Federal Court found that SensaSlim had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and had made false or misleading misrepresentations by failing to disclose Mr Foster’s involvement in the SensaSlim franchise and also found that Mr Foster was knowingly concerned in the conduct.

In May 2016, Mr Foster was also ordered to pay a $660,000 fine and to pay the ACCC’s costs, which he has not done. Orders restricting Mr Foster from being involved in a range of businesses indefinitely and permanently disqualified him from managing a corporation were also imposed by the Court.

About SensaSlim

SensaSlim Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) supplied an oral spray (the SensaSlim Solution) which was claimed to cause weight loss, and represented that the SensaSlim Solution was the subject of “a large worldwide clinical trial”.

Around 110 areas were sold to franchisees for the cost of $59,950 each. SensaSlim earned approximately $6.4 million from the sale of these franchises. The product was distributed through franchisees to be on-sold to consumers.

Comment from the ACCC

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said in a media release:

In February 2017, Mr Foster was also arrested on the Gold Coast for "fraud related issues" in connection with a sports betting scam and extradited to NSW. In July 2017, he was deemed a "completely unacceptable" flight risk and refused bail.

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Peter Foster declared bankrupt – ACCC Media Release MR 4/18

Conman Peter Foster declared bankrupt after failing to pay up to ACCC – smh.com.au

Peter Foster, one of Australia's most notorious scammers, has been declared bankrupt