Spotlight boss Mark Llewellyn may well be left to carry the can

A brutal statement issued by a Seven Network executive reveals that in the embattled company’s eyes, the buck stops with Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn.

Spotlight EP Mark Llewellyn and Taylor Auerbach. Picture: Instagram

Seven’s commercial director, Bruce McWilliam, has taken a brutal swipe at Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn, with the outgoing senior executive blaming the current affairs boss for the network’s bungled search of its communications with Bruce Lehrmann.

In response to judge Michael Lee’s query as to why Seven produced fresh documents on Thursday in relation to a subpoena it was compelled to respond to a year ago, Mr McWilliam said the network had relied on an “untested assurance” from Llewellyn that there were no communications to produce.

“Given Mr Llewellyn’s status as a senior producer, I had no reason to doubt his indication that no written or electronic communications with Mr Lehrmann existed, and consistent with that indication extensive searches of Seven’s email system were not performed at that time,” Mr McWilliam wrote in a signed affidavit

In other words, in the eyes of Seven’s top dogs, the buck stops with Llewellyn.

Seven is desperate to stem the company’s internal bleeding caused by the Auerbach-Lehrmann saga. If it can limit the perception of misconduct to the Spotlight team, then any potential contagion of the wider Seven brand is diluted, and the impact of any reputational damage is lessened.

Or so the thinking goes.

In a statement, which was sent to all staff on Thursday night, Seven said the network was “appalled” by the allegations aired in the Federal court by Mr Auerbach.

“Seven is appalled by the allegations made in recent days. We do not condone the behaviours described in these allegations. They do not reflect the culture of Seven,” the statement said. “Seven did not offer a promotion or pay rise to Mr Auerbach in November 2022, nor did it do so at any time after that.”

“Contrary to the claims reported in the media, Seven complied with all of its obligations in relation to producing documents in response to subpoenas issued to it,” the statement said.

“Seven has at no point asked anyone to delete or destroy any evidence. As previously stated, Seven did not condone or authorise the alleged payments to Mr Lehrmann referred to in the affidavits recently made public.

“The person involved admitted to the misuse of a Seven corporate card and all unauthorised expenses were immediately reimbursed. Seven has acted appropriately at all times.”

Llewellyn is certainly under pressure.

And in the final wash-up, he may well be the fall guy, allowing the network to compartmentalise the scandal.

It’s also possible that his greatest mistake in all of this is that he showed poor judgment in giving Taylor Auerbach a second chance following the producer’s confession that he’d racked up $10,000 worth of dubious expenses on the company credit card in November 2022. Has Llewellyn simply been undone by the outrageous misconduct of a staffer who egregiously misled him? Or could it be that his decision to conduct only “limited searches” of communications between Lehrmann and the Spotlight production team will be seen as the catastrophic failure that seriously compromised Seven’s reputation, embarrassed the network’s executive team and owner Kerry Stokes, and endangered the show’s future?

As it stands, Spotlight is due to screen its inaugural 2024 episode on Sunday week, April 14. On Thursday, The Australian asked a Seven spokesman if Spotlight would go to air as planned. We received no response.