Bruce Lehrmann’s alleged bill: Drugs, golf, $361 steak … and a jacuzzi
Seven covered the cost of prostitutes for Bruce Lehrmann, as well as illicit drugs, a round of golf and a $361 Tomahawk steak, in order to persuade him to hand over his exclusive interview rights, a bombshell affidavit has revealed.
Bruce Lehrmann wanted accommodation with a jacuzzi as part of his negotiations with Seven over giving the network his exclusive interview rights, according to text messages tendered to the Federal Court, as bombshell claims emerge that Seven covered the cost of prostitutes for him, as well as illicit drugs, a round of golf and a $361 Tomahawk steak.
The new information was released on Wednesday in an affidavit signed by former Spotlight employee Taylor Auerbach as part of Mr Lehrmann’s defamation suit against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, and contains claims that Mr Lehrmann gave Seven Brittany Higgins’s private text messages to use as part of his interview with the program.
Auerbach also claims senior Spotlight producers helped Mr Lehrmann gain access to Seven’s photocopier, which he used to make copies of the confidential documents.
Mr Lehrmann is suing Ten and Wilkinson over a 2019 interview on The Project with Ms Higgins, in which she claimed she had been raped in Parliament House but did not name him as the alleged attacker.
While judge Michael Lee had been expected to hand down a judgment in the matter on Thursday, Ten this week successfully applied to have its defamation case reopened, citing the new material provided by Auerbach.
Justice Lee is now not expected to deliver his judgment until next week.
Mr Lehrmann appeared in an episode of Seven’s flagship current affairs program Spotlight last June, following his aborted criminal trial.
In his affidavit, made public on Wednesday, Auerbach claims he has evidence in the form of photos and text messages of expenses paid for Seven for Mr Lehrmann’s benefit.
Those expenses included:
- $10,315 on massages;
- $401.83 on a round of golf in Tasmania;
- $259 on a meal at the Bridport Hotel in Tasmania;
- $517 on a meal at France in Sydney’s Potts Point;
- $450 on a meal at Spice Temple in the Sydney CBD;
- $555 on a meal at Chophouse Restaurant in the Sydney CBD, including $361 on a Tomahawk steak;
- $11,738.30 on accommodation in Randwick in Sydney’s east.
During the defamation trial, Mr Lehrmann admitted that Spotlight had paid his rent for 12 months, resulting in the program being stripped of its Walkley Award nomination for the episode.
In his affidavit, Auerbach claims illicit drugs and prostitutes bought by Mr Lehrmann on the evening of the dinner at Franca were “reimbursed to (Mr Lehrmann) by Seven through ‘per diems’ via invoice”.
He said he no longer had copies of those invoices.
His affidavit says Seven also provided Mr Lehrmann with accommodation at a Randwick house leased in Auerbach’s name, in addition to the 12 months of previously disclosed rent.
Auerbach said he had receipts for further accommodation for Lehrmann at a Randwick house from March 3 to March 24 worth more than $11,000.
In one text, Auerbach claims Lehrmann requested “accommodation with a jacuzzi”.
Auerbach was brought into the defamation saga after reports emerged in late March that an unnamed Seven producer – later revealed as Auerbach – spent thousands of dollars on Thai massages for himself and Mr Lehrmann, and paid for them with a corporate credit card in November 2022. He tried to reverse the credit card charge but was unsuccessful and ended up paying the network the funds.
While Auerbach was not sacked when he disclosed the credit case misuse, when his contract with the network expired the following year it was not renewed.
He took out a psychiatric injury claim against Seven, which was settled confidentially.
Auerbach also claims Mr Lehrmann supplied Seven with the AFP statement of facts from his criminal rape trial, along with text messages between Ms Higgins, her former boyfriend Ben Dillaway and Wilkinson’s husband, Peter FitzSimons.
“The applicant provided me with other documents and information via my Seven email address to which I no longer have access,” the affidavit reads. “For example, I recall that the applicant emailed me a detailed chronology.”
Mr Lehrmann has long denied being the leak who provided Spotlight with confidential information.
On November 28, he was asked in cross-examination by Wilkinson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, about his contract with Seven, which required him to “give all information, documents, film, video, photographs, items and assistance reasonably requested by Seven”.
“And did you do so?” Ms Chrysanthou asked. “No, I just gave an interview,” Mr Lehrmann replied.
In his affidavit, Auerbach recalls having dinner with Mr Lehrmann and Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn after which the former Liberal staffer used a Seven photocopier to copy documents for the program.
Auerbach said he observed Mr Lehrmann “had in his possession a large lever arch hard back folder containing what I saw to be around 500 pages of documents printed on both sides.” It is not alleged Llewellyn knew what documents Mr Lehrmann was photocopying.
Auerbach said Mr Lehrmann did not immediately provide him with the documents, but “said on to me on a number of occasions that evening ‘you will get this copy when you sign me – get Mark to sign the paperwork’.”
Later that evening, Llewellyn sent a message to a group chat with former Spotlight producer Steve Jackson and Auerbach saying “mission finally accomplished”.
“I am meeting Taylor tomorrow at 9.30, can we meet afterwards to discuss stories per your spreadsheet. Cheers, Mark,” Llewellyn wrote. Jackson replied: “Brilliant work gents … Well played.”
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