A former Penthouse Pet who smuggled ice into Australia to bankroll her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Simone Farrow, 41, used her image as a swimsuit model as a cover for the "principal role" she played in a syndicate that exported drugs concealed in bath salts and similar products, the Sydney Downing Centre District Court heard on Friday.
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Former model jailed for drug smuggling
Judge David Arnott has sentenced 41-year-old Simone Farrow to six and half years jail for smuggling multiple consignments of ice into Australia. Courtesy Network Ten
Farrow, formerly known as Simone Cheung and by career alias Simone Starr, was a key player in the exportation of nearly 750 grams of pure methamphetamine from the US over a seven-and-a-half-month period.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge David Arnott said Farrow played an "essential and important part in a sophisticated international enterprise using her image as a model as a cover".
Farrow was arrested at Sydney Airport in October 2009, and while she pleaded guilty to importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, she claimed she did not play a key role and was initially in the dark about the scheme.
But Judge Arnott rejected claims she was not an active participant in the drug syndicate and that her identity may have been stolen.
He said it "lacked credibility" that Farrow thought the money flowing into her bank accounts was from "unknown investors" or that working as a call girl was funding her high-end, extravagant lifestyle.
"The offender involved herself with the financial motive of financing an expensive lifestyle and her own drug use," Judge Arnott said.
"Whilst I'm not able to find that she was the principal behind the criminal enterprise I find she played a principal role."
Farrow moved to the US after a parcel bomb addressed to her was sent to the home of her body-builder boyfriend in 1998.
Her role in the LA-based drug syndicate, the court heard, involved communicating with customers, creating invoices for consignments and devising false names and addresses.
She admitted to importing six consignments, but the court heard a further 39 other packages had been smuggled into Australia.
Judge Arnott said while the offender had expressed contrition, this was offset by her portraying herself as a victim of more devious criminals.
"While she expressed shame and regret for what she has done, I find these are hollow statements," he said.
Since her arrest seven years ago, Farrow has skipped bail twice and spent four years behind bars on remand.
The court heard that Farrow had a troubled childhood, and had been exposed to drugs, alcohol and prostitution when she was a teenager.
She has one daughter, who she does not see, and had been addicted to drugs including cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
With her sentence backdated to include time already spent in prison, Farrow will be eligible for release in February 2019.
- with AAP