Revealed: The surprising REAL reason for Ben Crosley’s overseas trip as his wife remains at the centre of Lachie Neale scandal

Tess Crosley’s husband, Ben, has appeared to have travelled to Bali with multiple friends to inspect several of their investment properties.

It comes after Tess found herself at the centre of Lachie Neale’s high-profile split from his partner Julie.

Ben was pictured with his two friends, Tom Bennallack and Seth Mutton, at the luxurious Bambu Fitness centre in Uluwatu on Tuesday, after the group had completed a high-intensity workout.

On Wednesday, Bennallack shared more snaps of the trio exploring Bali on scooters, before they arrived at an Airbnb in Ubud.

It appears the group of friends had previously invested in multiple stunning new holiday homes and had jetted out to the Indonesian island to check out how the project had been coming along.

The group were seen arriving at the beautiful Prana Mansion in Ubud and were taken on a tour of the stunning apartments, which appeared to include multiple luxurious three-bedroom villas as well as an incredible Mansion Villa.

The Mansion Villa features a beautiful open-plan living space, complete with a sunken sofa and its own swimming pool. It also comes with a private hot tub and sauna, with prices for one night’s stay starting at $283.

Bennallack tagged his friends Crosley and Mutton in a photograph, appearing to show the group inspecting their new three-bedroom villas from the outside, before they made their way into the stunning new builds for a closer look.

Bennallack wrote: ‘It is pretty amazing to see what some of our investments have turned into @bencrosley @sethmutton’ 

The villas appear to be nestled in the heart of the Ubud jungle, with the group of friends revealing that they are set to launch more villas in the coming weeks. 

Ben works as a director for the Hong Kong-based New Heritage Investment company.

He and Tess are understood to have married back in 2017 and had become close friends with Lachie Neale and his wife Julie.

It comes as the Brisbane Lions captain announced last Friday that he had separated from his wife, adding that he had ‘let his family down’.

On December 18, rumours began to swirl that the couple, who have two children together – Freddie and Piper – were experiencing some issues in their relationship. 

In response to the speculation, Julie took to Instagram to say that she had been ‘betrayed’.

‘I want to make it very clear that I am not “working through” anything,’ Julie wrote.

‘I have been betrayed in the most unimaginable way.

‘All I can do now is to heal and do what’s best for my children.’

Julie had also publicly demanded that Tess, her former friend, delete several images of herself, Julie, Ben and Lachie celebrating the Brisbane Lions’ recent AFL Grand Final victory.

The Instagram post appeared to feature several images, including one of Tess and Julie biting Lachie’s premiership medal.

Julie wrote on Instagram: ‘Take these down you idiot you’re embarrassing yourself.’

The comment has since been deleted.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Tess.

Tess, who shares a young child with Ben, had been seen cutting a downbeat figure in the past week, as she stepped out of her Brisbane home. She was also seen not wearing her wedding ring.

She has since quietly removed the photographs of herself celebrating the Lions victory from Instagram, though some traces of her former relationship with Julie still remain on the social media platform.

The former Mormon missionary, meanwhile, appeared to shrug off any supposed drama on Boxing Day, after she published multiple relaxed pictures of herself on Instagram while enjoying the festive period in New South Wales.

Tess posed for a selfie in a brown bikini and a straw cowboy hat. She captioned the image ‘This’ adding a heart-emoji, while turning the comments on the post off.

Earlier this week, Daily Mail became aware of a telling social media post published in August by Tess, showing a picture of herself and the Neales at the Sirromet Winery in Mount Cotton, Queensland.

The group, who were joined by a third woman, smiled as they enjoyed some food and drinks during the getaway.

She captioned the post with a quote from the Harry Potter series: ‘I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.’

Lachie commented on the picture ‘Password: Dumbledore.’

The Brisbane Lions star, who has one year left on his contract with the Queensland outfit, has since moved out of his and Julie’s $2.43million Brisbane marital home.

At the start of the week, the embattled two-time Brownlow Medal winner was seen quietly moving into his own new property.

After having announced that he was giving up the Lions captaincy last week, he looked deep in thought as he moved his belongings out of a removals van into his new residence.

In his statement on the situation, Neale told members of the media: ‘While I will not go into specifics, I can say that I have let my family down and I apologise for my actions which have hurt those closest to me. And for that, I am deeply sorry,’ Neale said.

‘I accept this as a consequence of my actions and I need to focus on rebuilding the trust with Jules as a future wellbeing our children remain our number one priority.

‘I understand as a public figure that there is interest in my personal life. 

‘However, I do ask the privacy of Jules and my children be respected as we work through our new situation and the next chapter of our lives.’

One reporter pressed him on whether he had ‘cheated on his wife’.

Neale shot back: ‘I cannot address those rumours.’

Julie, meanwhile, appeared to travel back to Western Australia in December when rumours first emerged.

She took to Instagram to celebrate her baby boy Freddie’s first birthday, publishing several snaps of her young son online, with Lachie not pictured in the photos.