Dodgy Tea, Topless Models, Now This

L O N D O N, Dec. 18, 2002 -- Convicted con man, failed entrepreneur, womanizer. Peter Foster is guilty of many things. Now, he is guilty of embarrassing the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Best known for his ex-girlfriend, topless model and songstress Samantha Fox, Foster is used to life under the spotlight. But his latest brush with infamy led to him making a public statement this week over his relationship with Cherie Blair.

"I apologize to Tony and Cherie for the mess a little help from your friends can get you into," Foster said in an address broadcast live on British television.

Foster insisted neither he nor Cherie Blair had done anything wrong when he helped her save $109,000 on the purchase of two apartments.

The link between Foster, who faces deportation because of his criminal record, and Cherie Blair comes in the form of his girlfriend, Mrs. Blair's "lifestyle guru" and close friend Carol Caplin.

Dubbed "Cheriegate" by the British press, there has been a feeding frenzy over the story for the past two weeks.

The Downing Street press engine steamed into action defending Cherie Blair's involvement with Foster, but as more facts were revealed, more papers turned against the spin doctors and Mrs. Blair.

She was even forced to issue her own televised statement. She admitted she had made a mistake by allowing "someone I barely knew and had not then met to get involved in my family's affairs."

The episode is drawing to an end, and the debate in Britain is starting to cool, but most commentators are in agreement that Foster is not the sort of man the prime minister's wife should be consorting with.

A Three-Continent Criminal

It seems the episode has drawn to an end with a press conference held by Foster, "to make a final statement in the interests of truth and clarity."

Foster has received prison sentences in three continents. His first brush with the law came when he was a 17-year-old boxing promoter in his homeland Australia. He was fined $64,000 for attempted fraud when he tried to claim insurance on a canceled fight.

He went on to sell tickets for a Muhammad Ali fight that never took place, the advertising of which eventually bankrupted him at age 22.

But what brought him broader notoriety was his penchant for marketing useless diet aids. In 1986 he launched Bai Lin tea in Britain with the help of his then girlfriend Samantha Fox, a famous British topless model.

The thin voices inside thousands of people called out for the wondrous product which guaranteed weight loss, gaining a $2.8 million profit for Foster's company.

The tea was revealed to have none of the miraculous slimming agents the advertising promised and was removed from the market. The company went into liquidation and Foster disappeared having failed to attend his court hearing.

Foster next approached the American wight-loss market with a similar tea named Cho Lo. This time he earned himself a four-month prison sentence in a Los Angles jail for conspiracy to commit grand theft. The American police caught him trying to flee with $93,000 gathered from hopeful customers.

In 1994 he returned to Britain and had to face the charges against him for the Bai Lin tea scam; he was fined $33,500. A year later he was sentenced to a two year prison sentence again for peddling a diet product.

This time Foster promoted "miracle granules" and for a second time sucked in a female to help him promote his goods. Michelle Deakin, 19, claimed she lost 169 pounds using the granules, winning herself the illustrious Slimmer of the Year award.

She was later stripped of the award and prize money and is now claiming Foster fathered two children by her that he has seen only once.

False Claims

Foster fled to Australia where he faced charges of threatening witnesses and managing a corporation while insolvent. He was jailed for 18 months before being extradited to Britain in 2000 to answer charges of fraud relating to a "thigh reduction cream."

He was sentenced to 33 months and banned from acting as company director for the next five years. Despite all this, Foster has been reported to have been seeking investors in the Republic of Ireland for yet another dieting scheme.

Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is looking for Foster in connection with an alleged $2.2 million slimming pill swindle, in which 80 investors paid $16,000 each for franchises that came to nothing.

In his speech this week, Foster claimed that "nobody has ever lost money through my enterprises".

After Foster's statement, a former business partner summed up many people's sentiments, "He is a convicted liar why believe anything he says?"

Tony Blair's office, when asked to comment, replied "We have nothing more to say."

Foster says he will reveal all in an autobiography he plans to release soon.