Eve Wood’s deleted post about ‘absent fathers’… Plus, a new baby for the Catalanos as Stefanie stands by Antony – and the Scots insiders leaking against Arthur Tzaneros: THE GROUP CHAT

No honour among old boys 

Almost two months have passed since Arthur Tzaneros stepped down as CEO of embattled shipping giant ACFS Port Logistics following his astonishing contributions to a WhatsApp group discussion about the alleged Scots College gang rape case.

Since then, The Group Chat has learned some telling details about how Arthur’s remarks found their way into the pages of The Sydney Morning Herald, precipitating his swift exit from the collapsing family company.

While some inside the Tzaneros bunker have reportedly convinced themselves a lone rat in the Class of 1995 WhatsApp group was responsible for the leak, the reality appears rather less comforting.

We can reveal there were multiple old boys so appalled by Arthur’s commentary that screenshots were ricocheting through Sydney’s media, legal and business circles within hours.

One well-placed source told this column that no fewer than four separate members of the group independently sent him screenshots, openly expressing their disgust and gleefully counting down to what they regarded as Arthur’s inevitable resignation.

So much for the theory of a lone traitor. Rather, a coordinated outbreak of conscience.

This column was particularly heartened to learn there was no shortage of old boys prepared to leave schoolyard loyalties behind in favour of ensuring Arthur received the public scrutiny many felt he richly deserved.

And what of the WhatsApp group itself?

We’re told Arthur is no longer an active participant. Word is he removed himself from the chat as soon ‘the s*** started hitting the fan’.

‘Welcome to the chaos’

Accused wife basher Antony Catalano has welcomed his first grandchild.

The media mogul’s nepo-baby son Jordan ‘Jordy’ Catalano and his wife Jessica have welcomed a son, Freddy Catalano.

‘Welcome to the chaos, baby boy,’ proud aunt Birdy Catalano announced on social media last week.

Chaos? She’s not wrong.

It’s been quite a year for the famously unshakeable media executive and hotelier – and father of nine – who faces eight criminal charges in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after an alleged domestic violence incident involving wife Stefanie at their St Kilda penthouse in March.

Police allege the 59-year-old swung a clothes iron at his wife’s head, unlawfully imprisoned her inside the luxury apartment, threatened to stab her to death and choked or strangled her.

Stefanie was subsequently admitted to hospital with a broken tailbone.

The couple have since reunited, with Stefanie filing a second statement of no complaint in an attempt to have the charges against her husband withdrawn.

The matter looks to be proceeding regardless, with a hearing set for October 16.

But the legal drama has hardly been the only family reshuffle underway in the Catalano empire.

Earlier this year, Antony stepped down as executive chairman of the peak board overseeing Australian Community Media after being charged over the alleged assault.

And in a move that very much keeps things in the family, his 25-year-old son Luca Catalano was appointed to the four-person board of 20 Cashews, the entity overseeing ACM.

Luca joined his older brother Jordy, 35, as a director.

If nothing else, the Catalanos appear to have succession planning sorted.

Jordy has also taken over as sole director of Kirant Property and Jonson Street by Raes – the companies behind the family’s Byron Bay hospitality interests – following Antony’s departure from those boards in the wake of his arrest.

Kirant owns Raes at Wategos Beach, the luxury hotel Antony bought in 2013, while Jonson Street is behind the ambitious Bonobo by Raes development.

Jordy, Antony’s eldest son from his sprawling blended family of nine children and three baby mamas, has been heavily involved in the operation of Raes for years.

Antony, meanwhile, has long cultivated his Byron Bay businessman-about-town persona, making the recent boardroom reshuffle an interesting changing of the guard.

And now there’s a new Catalano in the mix. Welcome to the family business, Freddy.

It’s a small world in Brighton

Speaking of the Catalanos, the Herald Sun’s CBD column reported on Thursday that one of the Bayside homes linked to DV-accused Bachelor star Sam Wood is actually owned by a ‘former significant acquaintance of the charged media mogul’.

That undersells it a little bit. The woman on the title of the Brighton property wasn’t just a peripheral figure in The Cat’s world. She used to carry the man’s last name.

Records seen by The Group Chat reveal that since December 12, 2013, the ‘sole proprietor’ of the five-bedroom home, which carries a Macquarie Bank mortgage, is Shara Kimberley Pike.

You may know her better as Shara Catalano, The Cat’s second wife. Antony was married to Shara when he met third wife Stefanie, who was just 20 at the time.

Despite rumours she had been nanny to his five children, Stefanie and Catalano in fact met at The Pantry cafe in Brighton. It is not suggested Catalano cheated on his second wife – only that he first encountered Stefanie while still married.

Their former marriage fleetingly made headlines in March when The Australian newspaper reported how his parents, Antonio and Anna, launched legal action against Catalano and Shara in 2011.

In a writ filed on June 24, 2011, Antonio and Anna Catalano alleged that their son and his by then former wife had failed to honour an oral agreement relating to a loan provided in January 2004 to help the couple purchase a home, also in Brighton.

County Court records indicate the matter was settled before proceeding to trial.

It’s certainly an oddity that a home owned by a member of the extended Catalano family is now attracting paparazzi hoping for a glimpse of Snezana Wood or her daughters amid the fallout from a separate scandal related to DV allegations.

It’s also a reminder that Melbourne, for all its 5.4 million residents, can still feel remarkably like a small, gossipy country town.

Screenshots and speculation

On the subject of the Sam Wood saga, readers may have noticed that his stepdaughter, Eve Markoski-Wood, briefly emerged from social media hibernation this week to repost a handful of eyebrow-raising TikToks. 

One such post was reshared hours after her stepdad was arrested by Queensland Police and hauled into the Maroochydore Watchhouse.

It featured the puzzling line: ‘Do you ever leave a social situation and you’re just like hmm that was not my best work.’

Given the allegedly fraught situation Eve may or may not have witnessed at the family’s $3,000-a-night Noosa rental last Saturday night, reposting a quote about not handling a ‘situation’ well is curious.

Now, The Group Chat can reveal there was another cryptic repost doing the rounds before it quietly vanished.

On Wednesday, Eve shared a TikTok featuring the caption: ‘I’m like if a friend could be an absent father’ superimposed over a picturesque tropical beach scene. 

The repost remained live for only a few hours before disappearing, seemingly around the time Eve realised journalists and gossip junkies were monitoring her account.

For what it’s worth, the original post appears to be more about friendship than parenting – though her choice of words is startling, to say the least.

But that didn’t stop screenshots ricocheting through influencer gossip circles, where every social media breadcrumb connected to the case is currently being picked over like evidence in a true-crime documentary.

Or, put another way, the internet being the internet.

A nude awakening

‘Nude artist’ Dina Broadhurst is in Instagram jail.

After years of posting provocative photos, posing with her legs akimbo or simply sitting on the toilet with her pants down, her antics have finally caught up with her, and she has lost her main account.

Earlier this week, The Group Chat noticed the eastern suburbs ‘It’ girl’s follower count had plummeted from well north of 100,000 to a decidedly less glamorous 8,000. In influencer terms, that’s a fall from a penthouse to a studio.

Broadhurst wouldn’t comment when we slid into her DMs, but eventually addressed the situation in a since-expired Story posted to a back-up account on Wednesday.

‘My main Instagram account has been permanently suspended, and I urgently need help,’ she wrote, breathlessly.

‘I built this account and my business over 10+ years, and growing a community of more than 150,000 followers. It has now been removed with no meaningful avenue to appeal or speak to anyone directly.

‘My work is fine art photography, and I have always taken great care to follow Instagram’s guidelines and censor artwork where required.’

Hmm, really? We recall seeing a little too much of Dina in her ‘fine artwork’ in the past.

The suspension comes after the socialite made headlines for a PDA-packed beach outing in Ibiza with Niclas Castello, the 48-year-old German contemporary artist whose fortune is estimated at about $15million.

The pair were photographed passionately kissing on the sand just weeks after Broadhurst’s split from another Kraut, entrepreneur Danny Tchalaby.

As previously reported by the Daily Mail, that break-up was hardly amicable.

Well-placed sources say Tchalaby ended the relationship and asked Broadhurst to leave the Ibiza property they had been sharing. There was even chatter about suitcases being deposited on the lawn. Golly.

As for Castello, that romance appears to have run its course, too.

So while Broadhurst may be back on the dating market, her immediate priority seems to be reclaiming her Instagram account rather than finding her next international man of mystery.

Farewell, Geelong. Hello, Thailand

Larger than life former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons, better known as Mr Paparazzi during his days as a Fleet Street hellraiser, has announced plans to sell everything he owns via Lloyd’s Auctions later this month.

And when we say everything, we mean everything: from his beloved car collection, including a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Range Rover, and various designer jewels and gems, through to his pots, pans and front-loader washing machine. The lot will go under the hammer with a starting price of $1. 

Why the sudden offload of his worldly possessions?

We’re told the former shutterbug is starting a new life in Thailand, a path well-trodden by single Aussie blokes on the other side of 50.

A quick look at Lyons’ Instagram reveals he’s fashioning a career as a travel guide on the island of Koh Samui, sharing videos from five-star resorts and reviews of the holiday hotspot’s famous massage parlours.

Some of it is interesting… if you can look past the AI slop he’s been prompting from a deckchair outside his rented waterfront bungalow on Bang Po Beach.

Speaking of the bungalow, while it boasts one of the best views in town, it’s more weatherboard shack than waterfront palace when compared with Lyon’s View, the grand Geelong mansion worth $6million that he’s currently trying to sell.

With an influx of cash coming his way if all goes well with the auction, we’re told Lyons has big plans for the money.

According to a source, he’s planning to open his own resort in Koh Samui.