Flamboyant socialite Anthony Hess – who battled a liposuction disaster and very public fight with Roxy Jacenko – is charged with allegedly importing 9kg of cocaine, meth and ketamine into Australia
- Anthony Hess, 43, has been charged with drug trafficking in Melbourne
- Allegedly part of a syndicate importing 35kg a shipment from US and Europe
- Long history of controversy including feud with PR queen Roxy Jacenko
- High-profile associates included ex-BFF Stacey Hampton, bikie Toby Mitchell
A notorious socialite has been charged with trafficking meth, cocaine, and ketamine into Australia as part of a major syndicate.
Anthony Hess, 43, was arrested in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon as the latest to be snared in a joint Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police operation.
He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and will stay behind bars until at least September 6.
Hess is accused of attempting to import and possess 4kg each of cocaine and meth, and 1kg of ketamine and faces 25 years in jail if convicted.
Notorious socialite Anthony Hess, 43, has been charged with trafficking meth, cocaine, and ketamine into Australia as part of a major syndicate.
Hess’ high-profile associations include his former ‘best friend’ Married at First Sight star Stacey Hampton (centre) and ex-Mongols bikie president Toby Mitchell (right)
Hess is accused of attempting to import and possess 4kg each of cocaine and meth, and 1kg of ketamine and faces 25 years in jail if convicted
The syndicate allegedly imports up to 15kg of drugs per shipment into Australia from the US and Europe. Hess is the sixth person to be arrested.
The police operation has so far seized 35kg, including liquid cocaine hidden markers and mini-smoker machine flown into Melbourne.
Hess has variously worked as an Instagram influencer, brand ambassador, clothes salesman, and sex worker – but not as a Bitcoin trader as he is often called.
Best known for his ill-fated friendship with Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton and defeating Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko in court, fled to Los Angeles last year after a punch-up with his ex-bikie boss mate Toby Mitchell.
While in LA, he became a Covid super-spreader by accidentally infecting at least 60 people with the Delta strain in a long weekend bender in July 2021.
Hess, 40, is best known for his ill-fated friendship with Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton
Hess claimed the liposuction surgery in 2013 left him looking like a ‘freak show’ for eight years and so ashamed of his body he hid or edited his abs in shirtless photos. He had the damage repaired in Colombia late last year (bottom right)
Hess pictured in Crown Towers with best friends turned mortal enemy Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton in a photo where he Photoshopped his abs to look ‘normal’
A month earlier he was fined $2,400 for spraying ‘Roxy is a c**t’ on Ms Jacenko’s PR office in Sydney as part of a long-running feud.
Ms Jacenko took out a restraining order against him but he had it dismissed in court when it couldn’t be proved he did the graffiti.
However, GoPro footage was found during a search of Sydney street artist Anthony Lister, during an unrelated rape investigation, that proved Hess was the culprit.
Hess returned to Australia in January after his US visa was cancelled when he flew to Colombia for cosmetic surgery.
Since then he has mostly lived in Melbourne while working through a slow and painstaking process to regain his right to live in the US.
Hess (pictured with a friend) while in LA became a Covid super-spreader by accidentally infecting at least 60 people with the Delta strain in a long weekend bender in July 2021.
Who is Anthony Hess?
Anthony Hess is a controversial Australian socialite, now in Los Angeles with a seemingly never-ending appetite for drama.
He is best known for his ill-fated friendship with Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton and defeating Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko in court.
The party animal with a nose for trouble got special permission to leave Australia last October after he was repeatedly hit in the face by Mongols bikie president Mitchell.
Hess called the bashing a ‘drunken misunderstanding between mates’ sparked by Hampton spreading false rumours that he called Mitchell a ‘dog and a c**t’, and asked for the charges to be dropped.
Police prosecuted Mitchell for the assault anyway, even after Hess flew to LA to avoid being questioned over the brawl.
Hess was hit with a restraining order by prominent PR maven Ms Jacenko in 2019, but had it overturned in court in February 2020.
Ms Jacenko accused him of spraying ‘Roxy is a c**t’ on her office wall in Sydney’s Paddington after an altercation at one of her speaking events.
Roxy Jacenko accused Hess of spraying ‘Roxy is a c**t’ on her office wall in Sydney’s Paddington after an altercation at one of her speaking events
Hess denied the vandalism saying ‘gay guys don’t do graffiti’ and the court agreed, but he was in November fined $2,400 after new video evidence was discovered proving his guilt.
His falling out with former BFF Hampton was no less dramatic with photos of the pair shopping last year critical to getting the MAFS favourite fined for breaching quarantine rules.
Since their messy parting of way they have not missed an opportunity to snipe at each other on social media.
In July he unknowingly spread the Delta strain of coronavirus to at least 60 people in a single weekend during a party bender in Los Angeles
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