On a quiet tree-lined street, a man wheels his bins out to the curb in a seemingly ordinary scene — except for one thing.
The man is Peter Cowell, who vanished after proclaiming himself an admiral seeking donations for an international search-and-rescue scheme called IntSAR.
He even had a meeting with the now-Prime Minister of Fiji, but IntSAR turned out to be "bogus" and spectacularly imploded last year.
Mr Cowell's whereabouts have been unknown since July 2024, when he posted a video of himself from Bangkok, Thailand.
The ABC has tracked him down to the Perth suburb of Thornlie, where he had swapped his fanciful admiral's uniform for a checked shirt and white sneakers.
"Are you indeed an admiral in the navy?" the ABC asked him.
Mr Cowell said: "No".
When pressed about why he wore an admiral's uniform, he said: "I'm sorry guys, you need to contact me and ask for an interview."
Mr Cowell hurried back into the house as the ABC asked him how he planned to pay back his debts.
"Sorry your information is not correct," he said.
Mr Cowell had previously acknowledged he had never served in the navy, but said he had gained the title of admiral by "political appointment" — of which no such concept exists in Australia.
When the ABC asked who had appointed him as an admiral, he did not respond.
Mr Cowell broke his silence after repeated attempts from the ABC for comment.
More victims have since come forward regretting the day "admiral" Peter Cowell pulled them into his orbit.
'I need another few grand'
Lisa McConnell, an American academic whom Mr Cowell approached because of her background in global leadership and counterterrorism, said she was owed money.
"I never gave Peter money in any way, shape or form, never — what I did do was provide services," Dr McConnell said.
She did hours of consulting work to refine the wording of some of IntSAR's briefing papers, and said she had racked up around $US3,000 ($4,500) that she was owed for her time.
The debt has still not been paid.
She said she would not usually have wasted her time, but Mr Cowell had been surrounded by high-calibre people who were genuinely in the military and she believed in the cause.
"People who are in uniform are automatically given … some sort of level of credibility and respect," Dr McConnell said.
"A uniform does command respect. He wanted that recognition. He wanted to be seen that way. He put himself in that uniform."
Dr McConnell was one of 38 volunteers from all over the world roped into the IntSAR project.
Another person, Joel, who did not wish to use his real name, claims he was owed more than $30,000, as he gave Mr Cowell money when asked.
"It was just a constant stream of, 'I need another few grand here', 'I need another $100 there,'" Joel said.
"And [it got] to the point where I just said, 'No, enough's enough. I need to see something,' and then he vanished."
Part of the $30,000 was a loan he advanced to Mr Cowell to buy a ticket to Thailand.
Joel never saw him again.
"He took advantage of my good nature," he said.
Rick Elder, a Queenslander now living in Thailand, said he had the misfortune of meeting Mr Cowell at a bar in Pattaya.
The two got to know each other, and he was eventually coaxed into lending Mr Cowell money for living expenses.
It added up to more than $2,000, which Mr Elder said still had not been paid back.
Mr Cowell pivoted at the end of 2023, dropping the admiral honorific.
Since then, he has been trying to sell angel-investing schemes, Thai real estate, books and ad products.
Mr Elder said he helped Mr Cowell edit a cookbook and a romance novel called Latin Fire in the hopes of getting his money back.
"The books were all crap," he said, adding he was embarrassed his name was included in the books.
Mr Cowell left Thailand and has been in Australia all year, the ABC understands.
"I still have his uniform in my wardrobe," Mr Elder said.
Meeting with Fiji's now-PM
The ABC reported last week that Mr Cowell managed to secure talks in 2022 with Fiji's now-Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, to seek backing for his fanciful international rescue fleet.
Mr Cowell, who has been bankrupt twice and has previously used an alias, claimed IntSAR had raised $800 million from 30 member nations.
Mr Rabuka, who was Fiji's opposition leader at the time, met with Mr Cowell to discuss turning Fiji into a base of operations for a fleet of mercy ships.
Another meeting was organised in 2023, by which time Mr Rabuka was in power.
But Mr Cowell didn't show to the meeting as he was by that point living in Thailand.
Mr Rabuka confirmed he had met Cowell but said no money changed hands or promises were made.
The ABC also previously spoke with two NSW former police detectives, Scott Rogan and Peter Hogan, were also nearly roped into the scheme.
"There were a few things that just didn't feel quite right about it all," Mr Rogan said, calling the operation "fake" and "bogus".
The pair soon grew alarmed at the red flags and began investigating him, alongside podcaster Sarah Ferris, who has since released a series called The Badmiral.
"There is a bit of Hollywood scripting in it," Mr Rogan said.
"We've chased him around a number of different countries."
Ms Ferris said Peter Cowell was recruiting veterans.
"And they weren't just veterans, they were like top-ranking officials and I just was thinking, if these guys can't see that something's not right, then how can anyone?"
