By Sarah McPhee
Australian singer-songwriter Tina Arena has provided a testimonial for celebrity manager Titus Day, who is awaiting sentencing for embezzling more than $600,000 of pop star Guy Sebastian’s earnings, in which she states she “trusts him implicitly”, a court has heard.
Day, 49, was found guilty by a jury in June of 34 counts of embezzlement, totalling $624,675, relating to royalties and income from corporate gigs and wedding performances between 2013 and 2020.
Titus Day, Tina Arena, Guy Sebastian.Credit: Brook Mitchell / Fiora Sacco
The Crown alleged at trial there were shortfalls in amounts transferred by Day to Sebastian’s “Guytunes” bank accounts.
In sentencing submissions in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Friday, Day’s barrister Dominic Toomey, SC, said the judge had been provided “multiple glowing references from people of high standing in the community” about his client, and pointed to a testimonial from Arena.
“This one speaks volumes for the simple reason that Ms Arena did not come to retain the services of Mr Day until after he’d been accused of the offences which were the subject of this trial,” he said.
Summarising the document, he said Arena had approached Day “shortly after he had been charged” in 2020.
“She signed a management agreement with him despite this and because of his impeccable reputation of honesty, integrity and his prolonged high level of success in business,” Toomey said.
“She goes on to say, keeping in mind of course that Mr Day has now managed Ms Arena’s talent affairs for in excess of two years, that she trusts him implicitly and judges him of being a person of unquestionably good character.”
Sebastian, the inaugural winner of Australian Idol, was managed by Day at agency 22 Management from 2007. He joined Day’s company 6 Degrees in 2009 before their relationship was severed in 2017.
Toomey accepted the threshold for imprisonment had been crossed but submitted that an intensive correction order (ICO), a form of custodial sentence served in the community, was “not only available but appropriate”.
“This case is a long way ... from the typical case of embezzlement where money is simply retained and applied [to the] direct benefit of the offender, often on lavish lifestyle choices,” Toomey said.
The defence barrister said the guilty verdicts have damaged Day’s reputation, and argued they will have “an undoubtedly severe impact on his future commercial prospects”.
He submitted that the risk of reoffending was negligible and, “in response to the Crown’s observation that no remorse has been expressed”, said that Day maintained his innocence.
“He intends to appeal the jury’s verdicts on a number of bases including serious prosecutorial misconduct,” Toomey said, adding that further grounds would be that the verdicts were “unreasonable” and some “plainly inconsistent”.
Day was acquitted on 16 embezzlement counts, including three as directed by the judge.
Crown prosecutor David Morters, SC, said the majority of the charges brought against Day “have now been proved”, including a “misappropriation” of $187,524 for Sebastian’s support of US megastar Taylor Swift in 2013.
Morters submitted that the penalty to be imposed is “certainly out of range of an ICO” and “that sentencing option is simply not available” to Judge Timothy Gartelmann in this matter.
Day remains on bail after a third attempt by prosecutors to detain him in August was unsuccessful and will be sentenced on November 17.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.