Bruce McWilliam disparaged me over Thai massage story, says Taylor Auerbach

The former TV producer whose evidence disrupted Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial has claimed former Seven boss Bruce McWilliam gave damaging information to a journalist.

Taylor Auerbach, left, and Bruce Lehrmann.

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Taylor Auerbach, a former Spotlight producer whose last-minute evidence disrupted Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial, has claimed former Channel 7 supremo Bruce McWilliam gave wrong and disparaging information to a journalist about how Auerbach had used a corporate card to buy Lehrmann a Thai massage.

Auerbach, who filed legal action against Seven in March, made the allegation in a statement of claim released by the Federal Court on Tuesday.

The allegations centre around an article written by news.com.au journalist Samantha Maiden in March 2024 claiming that a Network Seven credit card was used to book Lehrmann a $1000 Thai masseuse as the Spotlight team were attempting to woo the former Liberal staffer into a tell-all interview.

Auerbach was sacked from his job as an investigations producer at Sky News about two days after the article was published.

Auerbach now says Seven breached a confidential deed of settlement signed shortly after his departure from the company in 2023, in which the network agreed not to make disparaging comments about him.

Seven executive Bruce McWilliam. Picture: Damian Shaw / NewsWire

Auerbach’s lawyer, Rebekah Giles, alleges in the statement of claim that on or about March 20, 2024, McWilliam, then commercial director of Seven, spoke to Maiden and told her that a Spotlight program employee had used a Seven credit card to purchase personal services, without the knowledge of anyone else at the network.

Giles says McWilliam told Maiden that Seven had insisted that the employee pay for the services themselves and repay the credit card in line with the Seven Network’s expenses policy, and that the producer was counselled and provided with a written warning.

At about the same time, Giles said, a person employed or contracted by Seven (or McWilliam) sent an email to Maiden to the same effect.

The following day, Giles says, Maiden published an exclusive article about the payment for the Thai masseuse and “attempts by the Spotlight team to reverse the transaction”.

Giles says the claims were disparaging of Auerbach or likely to injure his reputation and that McWilliam’s communication to Maiden “was expressly authorised by Seven”.

Seven never “insisted” the money be repaid in line with its expense policy and Auerbach was never counselled or provided with any written warning, Giles says. Auerbach was even allegedly told he could “one day be EP of Spotlight” and was sent by Seven to the US and Mexico in March 2023 to do interviews with Meghan Markle’s family.

Taylor Auerbach with his lawyer Rebekah Giles. Picture: Damian Shaw/NewsWire

Giles also alleges that a statement made to the ABC’s Media Watch program was disparaging of Auerbach and had made similar false claims about him.

The statement of claim says that McWilliam’s communications with Maiden, and Seven’s statement to Media Watch, “had the effect of making people shun and vilify Auerbach, including colleagues and friends” and caused him to lose his job with Sky News Australia.

The statement to Media Watch was also defamatory of Auerbach because it suggested he was disciplined and terminated by Seven because of misuse of a corporate credit card, the claim says.

After the massage revelations emerged, Auerbach signed affidavits in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network 10 and presenter Lisa Wilkinson, claiming Seven gave the former Liberal staffer a range of expensive perks to sign over his exclusive interview rights.

Federal Court judge Michael Lee reopened the case in April last year to hear Auerbach’s claim that Seven covered the costs of Mr Lehrmann’s prostitutes, illicit drugs, a round of golf and a $361 Tomahawk steak.

Auerbach told the court he witnessed Lehrmann order a bag of cocaine while at Potts Point restaurant Franca in January 2023, which he later took back to a hotel room Seven was paying for.

“Mr Lehrmann had over dinner purchased a bag of cocaine while we were dining at Franca, and when we got upstairs to the room, he pulled that out and started to put it on a plate,” Auerbach told the court.

“Then he started talking to me about a prospective Spotlight story and his desire to order prostitutes to the Meriton that night, and began googling a series of websites to try and make that happen.”

A Seven spokesman at the time said the network had “acted appropriately at all times” and “did not reimburse Bruce Lehrmann for expenditure that has allegedly been used to pay for illegal drugs or prostitutes, and has never done so”.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Auerbach founded a media relations company called Bubbles Media. His statement of claim describes him as a law student.

A Seven West Media spokesperson said the network “will strenuously defend its position in this matter and is considering its options”. “As this matter is before the courts, Seven will not be commenting further at this stage.”