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Serial conman's flat 'stripped bare' before eviction

By Tanya Weingarth â¢ Producer
5:41am Jul 21, 2018 A Gold Coast conman is back in the spotlight after a penthouse he was renting was found damaged and stripped of its furniture and several appliances.

Anthony Rostas, who has also been known to go by the names of Eric Barry Ryan, Peter Collins, Anthony Ross and David Parker, is no stranger to A Current Affair.

He's starred in a number of stories for renting out penthouses, then illegally sub-letting them out to other people, usually young women.

Anthony Rostas is a serial conman known for renting out penthouses and then illegally subletting them. (9news)

The girls then get ripped off, and "Big Tony" kicks them out, before finding a new pad to do it all again.

This time, his dodgy behaviour unfolded at a luxury Surfers Paradise apartment, owned by 31-year-old Victorian pharmacist, Miriam Tawfik.

The two-bedroom unit is Ms Tawfik's first investment property, bought with her brother.

Rostas quickly fled A Current Affair's cameras. (9news)
Cycling away, he fell off outside the building. (9news)

While "Big Tony" kept up with his rent to begin with, it wasn't long before the cracks began to show, and Miriam says he soon slipped four months behind on his payments, and owed $9000.


"You know, it's people's livelihood, they are working hard for it, its infuriating and it's upsetting," Miram told A Current Affair reporter Dan Nolan.

Police were called in to formally evict Mr Rostas this week, but he beat them to it, leaving in his wake an almighty mess.

Miriam Tawfik said Rostas slipped four months behind on his rent. (9news)

Bernadette Gibbs is the building manager. She found the penthouse ransacked, and stripped almost bare of all its furniture.

"I'm feeling very disappointed, this was a fully furnished apartment, it was one of the best apartments in the property, it had everything to the highest quality,"  Mrs Gibbs said.

A queen size bed, washing machine, dryer, fridge, and microwave have all vanished, while tables and chairs have been left in pieces.

The flat was stripped bare of almost all its furniture. (9news)
The unit had been fully furnished. (9news)

"I'm stunned at that," said Ms Tawfik, after seeing her unit for the first time, following Mr Rostas's departure.

A Current Affair producer Lulu Harrison confronted Mr Rostas as he surprisingly made a return to the unit complex, days after police attempted to evict him.

But he wasn't up for a chat, instead leaping onto his bike and crashing into the building's doors, before tumbling to the ground, the entire clumsy ordeal caught on camera.

Building manager Bernadette Gibbs with A Current Affair's Dan Nolan. (9news)

Police have issued a statement to A Current Affair saying they are "investigating a stealing offence that occurred at a Surfers Paradise unit complex sometime between 12am Friday, July 13, and 3pm Tuesday, July 17".

It is not known who was responsible for removing the items from the property or if other people had been staying at the premises.









