A convicted conman who tried to use Hollywood's A-List to reel in an Aussie NBA star is now facing fresh claims he's left countless more empty-handed after a string of failed deals. 

Joshua Howlett first made headlines when he claimed to be making a movie about Cleveland Cavaliers star Matthew Dellavedova's rise from rural Victoria to NBA fame.

He tried to lure in the star by claiming Tinsel Town heavyweights including Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte and Liam Hemsworth were keen to be involved. 

But the project fizzled out when Howlett, 36, vanished after his conman past was exposed.

Now he's back amid allegations he kept one budding actor in talks for over a decade after taking more than $70,000 from him with almost nothing to show for it. 

'People need to know who he is,' one alleged victim told the Daily Mail this week. 

'He needs to be stopped - it's disgusting what he's done.'

Howlett, 36, was convicted in 2019 when he admitted obtaining financial advantage by deception and was sentenced to a three-year community correction order.

Convicted conman Joshua Howlett has been accused of owing people money

It was reported Liam Hemsworth was a possibility to play Dellavedova in the movie 

Howlett attempted to rope in Aussie NBA star Matthew Dellavedova (left) to a movie deal

Melbourne County Court heard Howlett conned a doctor into investing $150,000 into a film called 'Better Half' in 2016 in return for his daughter starring in it.

Filming began in November 2016 but the production halted the same month when the funds disappeared, the court was told.

It was revealed Howlett had spent the cash on personal items, including fines, rent, travel, clothing, food and drinks.

At the same time, Howlett was trying to tie up the deal to tell Dellavedova's story but the star's manager, Bruce Kaider, revealed they killed the project after concerns about Howlett.

'Josh wasn’t the kind of person we like to do business with,' Mr Kaider admitted in 2020 

'We didn’t want anything to do with him. I could tell early he was a snake, we deal with sharks every day in the sports industry so I started calling him out on his bulls***.

'We started noticing things, behavioural changes, we heard things about him, people started messaging us, he owed money, he owed our partners’ money.'

Now though, Howlett, who is believed to have relocated to the Gold Coast, is back - and he has a fresh trail of unhappy business partners calling him out.