Frisky business... Con Ange's Adult Shop was raided by Kings Cross police. Photo: Sahlan Hayes

THE woes of Sydney porn shop king Con Ange, the largest distributor of adult pornography on the east coast, continue after Kings Cross police raided the area's last two adult shops.

Police targeted Mr Ange's Pleasure Chest in Darlinghurst Road, and its sister operation, the Adult Shop, directly opposite.

During the raids 10 days ago more than 1000 DVDs and porn material were seized, including 700 bottles of amyl nitrate. The Pleasure Chest is now boarded up. The Adult Shop continues to trade, with reduced stock.

 

In March Mr Ange and his estranged wife, Mimi, who are locked in a battle over his assets, were ordered by the Victorian Supreme Court to pay an auction company an estimated $1 million in compensation, for loss of commission, after withdrawing 22 paintings on the day they were due to be auctioned in May 2008.

Bonhams and Goodman were to sell works by Norman Lindsay, Arthur Streeton and others valued at more than $2.4 million, on behalf of Mrs Ange, but her husband said they were not hers to sell and secured an injunction to have the paintings withdrawn.

The court heard how Mr Ange invested cash from his porn shop empire into paintings, including many works that had come from the rogue Sydney fine art investment dealer Ron Coles.

In February NSW Police detailed to the NSW Supreme Court that Mr Ange and his wife were among 85 people allegedly defrauded by Mr Coles, who is still the subject of an investigation after the $23 million collapse of his art dealerships.

In court documents police said Mr Ange was seeking more than $800,000 that he and his wife had lent to Mr Coles or invested in paintings.

Meanwhile, Law & Order has learnt that rather than await the outcome of court proceedings or police action against Mr Coles, one group of unhappy investors - believed to be the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang - has succeeded in recouping its finances.

A ''debt collector'' for the gang identified a silent partner of Mr Coles and persuaded him to part with either paintings and cash, or both, with a total value of six figures.

It is understood they paid him a visit at his home north-west of Sydney in April after Mr Coles, who is still driving taxis on the central coast, could not come up with the cash.