Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn confirms exit from Seven, thanks colleagues amid corporate expenses scandal
Channel 7 has confirmed Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn has left the network, four days after it was first reported he had parted ways with his employer.
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Channel 7 has confirmed the executive producer of troubled program Spotlight has parted ways from his employer, four days after it was reported he had left the TV station.
On Monday, Seven released a statement confirming Mark Llewellyn had departed the network following the scandalous allegations that plagued the investigative program including the use of company money to reimburse accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann for payment of sex workers and cocaine – claims Seven has rejected.
“Mark Llewellyn no longer works for the Seven Network,” the statement said on Monday.
Seven has not yet announced who will replace Llewellyn.
The Australian last week first reported that Llewellyn had handed in his company security pass at the network’s Eveleigh offices in inner Sydney on Wednesday night and would not be returning to the station.
Spotlight former producer Taylor Auerbach gave testimony in the defamation case between Mr Lehrmann and Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson earlier this month and claimed that Seven had reimbursed costs for sex workers and cocaine for Mr Lehrmann prior to him agreeing to do a sit-down television interview with the network.
The interview aired on the Spotlight program in June 2023.
In a statement on Monday, Llewellyn said: “I am proud of Spotlight and proud of the dedicated team who make it.
“I repeat that any suggestion that I was aware of, condoned or arranged payments for illegal or unsavoury activities is wrong.
“I would like to thank my colleagues for being the backbone of a wonderful show.
“I resigned from Seven last week.”
Llewellyn hired employer lawyer John Laxon to negotiate his termination package from Seven.
In November 2022, Auerbach contacted Llewellyn via email to tender his resignation, outlining that he had been involved in racking up $10,000 that “had nothing to do with work”.
Despite this, Auerbach was not sacked by Seven when he disclosed his misuse of the credit card in late 2022.
Seven has denied that it paid for Lehrmann’s alleged activities or had any knowledge internally of them.
Auerbach left the network when his contract expired the following year, and it was not renewed.
Spotlight returned to the screens for the first time in 2024 on Sunday night to air an episode on a drug to help weight loss, Ozempic.
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Originally published as Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn confirms exit from Seven, thanks colleagues amid corporate expenses scandal
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