Who is Titus Day? Guy Sebastian’s former manager charged with fraud
Titus Day was once Australia’s manager to the stars. Now, he’s defending charges after allegedly stealing more than a million from Guy Sebastian.
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Titus Day was once Australia’s manager to the stars but after years of bad press and falling out with the celebrities he was representing, the talent agent is now facing a spectacular fall from grace.
Day, 47, spent the night behind bars but has now been released on bail and will appear in Sydney’s Waverley Court later today, charged with keeping $1.15 million from singer Guy Sebastian over seven years.
The Voice star said this morning he was “absolutely devastated” at the allegations.
“For me this has been deeply persona and this period has been the toughest of my life,” Sebastian said.
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Day was arrested at his multimillion-dollar home on Ocean Street in Bondi last night and was this morning hit with 61 charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Sebastian parted ways with Day in November 2017 after 12 years together but he wouldn’t be the last celebrity to cut ties with the manager.
Grant Denyer and his wife Cheryl left Day’s company 6 Degrees Management in September 2018, a decision that the talent agent didn’t take well.
Day had been representing the Family Feud host for eight years when the Denyers cut ties.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph’s Confidential after losing the couple,Day levelled wild allegations against them and said he would be chasing them for money.
“Grant and Chezzi came to see me this week and told me that they were terminating my management agreement,” Day told Confidential.
“The reason they gave is they are going to do some major house renovations and so don’t want to pay commissions on any of their deals.
“Obviously, given what we have been through together in the last eight years, that hurts. I took them from the bottom to the top and am immensely proud of the work my team and I have done. Nothing can change that and we will move on to bigger and better things.
“But I will be enforcing my legal rights and they will honour their agreements and be paying the commissions that are owed.”
The week before Denyer cut ties with Day, reports had surfaced in The Sydney Morning Herald that the TV presenter had refused to participate in a Father’s Day photo shoot unless he was paid.
“When contacted by Fairfax Media this week to pose in a Father’s Day photo with his two daughters, Denyer’s manager Titus Day said in no uncertain terms that his client was ‘far too valuable to do something like that for free’ but was happy to offer up Sophie Monk and UFC fighter Rob Whittaker in his place,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Day also represented Sophie Monk for more than a decade until she sent Day and his wife and fellow management boss Courtney a notice of termination in December.
Monk, who is good friends with Guy Sebastian, reportedly cut ties with the couple after the Australian Idol winner continued his court battle.
It’s understood Sebastian, who was one of the first stars to sign with Day, had recommended 6 Degrees Management to Monk.
Monk was quickly signed to rival talent agency 22 MGMT – run by Day’s friend Sean Anderson.
“We had been friends for 20 years, I went around to his (Sean Anderson’s) home to sort it out on Saturday and look him in the eye … let’s just say we are not friends anymore, it was a pretty tense visit,” Day told The Sydney Morning Heraldin February.
“Sean and I worked together for five years, we were incredibly close. Even after I left him to set up on my own I would call him up about clients that wanted to come with me, to give him notice as a courtesy … I had no warning this was coming.”
Day and Sebastian have been locked in a legal battle for years with each alleging they were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The bitter legal stoush came to a head last night when NSW Police said they now had enough evidence to charge Day with the 61 counts of fraud.
Before that, Day’s 6 Degrees Management claimed it was owed a six-figure sum in unpaid management commissions for deals he nabbed for the singer including cuts from Sebastian’s recording deals, securing the singer’s spot as the opener for Taylor Swift’s tour and brand endorsements.
Sebastian however claimed he was owed 10 per cent of the shares and profits of Nexdius – the company that owns the Solar D sunscreen brand, a brand the singer promoted.
Court documents showed Sebastian and his manager disputed the fine print of the deal.
Day claimed his ongoing legal battles with Sebastian had forced him to put 6 Degrees Management into liquidation and sell the family home last year.
“What we are owed is still being calculated but I estimate between Guy, his wife and the Sebastian Foundation, 6 Degrees is owed $800,000,” Day told The Daily Telegraph last year.
Before all of his drama with his celebrity clientele, Day positioned himself as an Australian leader in talent management.
On his LinkedIn profile, Day described his company, which was formed in July 2009, as offering “exclusive service and expertise” to clients across all fields.
“(6 Degrees Management) has set out with the goal of becoming a leader in the field of personal management of media personalities, artists, athletes and celebrities,” Day wrote.
“6 Degrees offers exclusive services and expertise to its clients in the fields of television, radio, print media, music, sports, licensing, publishing and crisis management.
“Titus has worked as a talent manager, agent and commercial lawyer in both Australia and United States for 20 years.”
In April 2017, just six months before Sebastian dumped him, Day told Mediaweek he had branched out to a specialist sports management division called 6 Degrees Sport.
“The agency has started with a bang representing three athletes at the top of their respective fields – Australia’s number one Ironman champion Matt Poole, Australia’s number one female skateboarder Poppy Starr and Australia’s number one UFC fighter Rob Whittaker,” the article said.
The division of 6 Degrees Sport set big goals for itself and promised to make each of its stars a priority.
“The ideal is to have the best person in each discipline. In other sports we take on, the ideal would be to have the number one person,” Day said.
“Once the new division can fund itself, we can then bring on more staff and look at signing other stars, either near the top of the sport or perhaps and up-and-coming star. You need that first person to attract others.
“One of the first things anybody asks when we sign them is, ‘Am I always going to be a priority?’ We need to be very sensitive to that and ideally focus on the best in each category.”
Day has been released on bail and is due to appear in Waverley Court later today.
Originally published as Who is Titus Day? Guy Sebastian’s former manager charged with fraud