Former millionaire socialite Brynne Edelsten was allegedly running a major drug trafficking operation alongside a former outlaw bikie boss.
Edelsten fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after police allegedly found commercial quantities of illicit substances in her home.
Victoria Police alleged significant amounts of meth, ketamine and a date rape drug were discovered inside her apartment in December.
Officers were tipped off to an alleged smuggling operation in October when parcels containing meth were mailed from Victoria to Tasmania.
Edelsten’s co-accused is former Bros outlaw motorcycle gang sergeant-at-arms Simon Pienaar.
He appeared via a custody link from Western Plains Correctional Centre while Edelsten appeared in court in person.
Pienaar has been charged with various drug offences including three counts of trafficking a commercial quantity of meth.
Edelsten and Pienaar were successfully able to convince Magistrate Donna Bakos to allow their respective legal teams to quiz the Victoria Police detective leading the investigation when the matter goes to a committal hearing in July.
Fallen socialite Brynne Edelsten arrives at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after she was charged with drug trafficking
Edelsten was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of meth
Both defence teams will also be able to question two fingerprint experts, which the court heard were integral to the prosecution case.
The court heard fingerprints allegedly lifted from packaging containing drugs are the crucial clues which ‘directly implicates the accused’.
Edelsten, who was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of meth, also had her bail restrictions relaxed.
She had a condition she engage with a court program that offers drug treatment and other services dropped.
Veronika Drago, for Edelsten, said her client had made ‘excellent engagement’ while on bail so far.
Edelsten was able to secure bail after her United States-based mum, Mariel Gordon, flew 14,000km in January to deliver a $5,000 cash guarantee to keep her daughter out of custody.
Ms Gordon has since flown back to the US but she was officially served notice of Edelsten’s change of bail conditions late this afternoon.
If Edelsten breaches her bail conditions or flees before answering her charges, then her mum, a former Phoenix, Arizona schoolteacher, could lose her cash.
Edelsten with her mum Mariel Gordon in Melbourne in February
Edelsten, now 43, became famous after she married eccentric multi-millionaire Australian businessman Geoffrey Edelsten – 41 years her senior – in November 2009
Edelsten leaves court in January after securing bail
Edelsten lives in a Fitzroy hellhole
Edelsten’s bail conditions included that she surrender her passport and report to police three times a week.
The 43-year-old became famous after she married eccentric multi-millionaire Australian businessman Geoffrey Edelsten – 41 years her senior – in November 2009.
The US-born glamour met Edelsten in Las Vegas before arriving in Australia a year ahead of the former couple’s glitzy $3million wedding at Crown Casino.
Their headline-grabbing wedding featured various celebrities and included a speech from Seinfeld star Jason Alexander – despite the actor not even knowing the couple.
The bride then maximised her fame and model looks with endless red carpet appearances and roles in TV shows including SAS Australia and Dancing with the Stars.
Edelsten, who was born Brynne Gordon in Oklahoma in the US in 1983, also had her own reality TV show Brynne: My Bedazzled Life.
However, things started going downhill for Edelsten after her marriage to Geoffrey ended in divorce in 2014. Geoffrey died in Melbourne aged 78 in June 2021.
A series of drug controversies later and Edelsten, who once lived in million-dollar plus properties in Port Melbourne and the CBD, is now holed up in a Fitzroy halfway-house style apartment block.
The US-born glamour met Edelsten in Las Vegas before arriving in Australia a year ahead of the former couple’s glitzy $3million wedding at Crown Casino
Rubbish, street filth, junkies and homeless misery are now part of Edelsten’s life in a clear sign her days of luxury are over
Edelsten, who was born Brynne Gordon in Oklahoma in the US in 1983, also had her own reality TV show Brynne: My Bedazzled Life
The cramped, $300-a-week apartment is near the south end of Brunswick Street next-door to refugee-packed commission housing towers and backs out to an alley full of junkies and used needles.
In January, The Daily Mail witnessed two ambulances arrive at Edelsten’s building in less than an hour as media waited for the former socialite to emerge and discuss her latest drug woes.
Edelsten remained home and politely declined to speak to the Daily Mail.
Prior to that, no shortage of shady characters came and went from the unit complex, where it’s believed single mum Edelsten raises her three-year-old daughter, Starr.
Half-a-dozen or so tenants at the complex also lugged out big bags of empty cans to cash out at the depository around the corner next to an out-of-order, needle-laden public toilet.
The toilet is across the street from the police station Edelsten will be reporting to three times a week as part of her bail conditions.
An invisible line separates the shady part of Fitzroy and the much trendier north side of Brunswick Street and west to Nicholson Street.
Rubbish, street filth, junkies and homeless misery are now part of Edelsten’s life in a clear sign her days of luxury are over.
In April 2022, Edelsten was charged with trafficking and possessing ice, but she avoided a conviction as she worked her way towards a comeback.
In September, Edelsten announced she had a new mystery boyfriend and returned as a judge at the Runway in the Rainforest event at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
However, the latest drug charges, along with her dwelling, have put a clamp on any potential plans to re-enter high society.
Pienaar, who was also charged with knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime and trafficking meth, is a former high-ranking member of outlaw bikie gang Bros.
He and Edelsten will return to court for a committal hearing on July 27.
