John Pesutto’s secret $50k payment to settle defamation suit
The Victorian Liberal leader paid $50,000 to cover the legal bills of two women’s rights activists suing him for defamation after he suggested they were linked to neo-Nazis, having it wired directly into a trust by his former staffer.
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto paid $50,000 to cover the legal bills of two women’s rights activists suing him for defamation after he suggested they were linked to neo-Nazis, keeping the payment out of his deed of settlement, and having it wired directly into a trust by his former staffer.
Private correspondence obtained by The Australian and Sky News Australia reveals Xavier Boffa transferred the payment on Mr Pesutto’s behalf to pay legal fees charged by Alexander Rashidi Lawyers for solicitor Katherine Deves and barrister Bridie Nolan.
Mr Boffa, an informal adviser to Mr Pesutto who heads legal think tank the Samuel Griffith Society, made the payment in three separate instalments – $20,000, $20,000 and $10,000 – just prior to Mr Pesutto signing deeds with activists Angela Jones and Kellie-Jay Keen in May.
Mr Pesutto previously claimed he made a “small” contribution to costs to settle the matter, but The Australian and Sky News Australia can reveal his contribution covered the entire $50,000 bill invoiced to the clients.
The exact terms of the settlement and negotiations between parties have until now been kept secret.
Ms Keen and Ms Jones last year joined Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming in suing Mr Pesutto over comments he made in the wake of the “Let Women Speak” rally, organised by the three women to protest against what they see as infringements on women’s and children’s rights by transgender activists.
A counter-rally was conducted by transgender activists at the event. A group of neo-Nazis attended the Spring Street precinct, and performed the Nazi salute on the steps of state parliament.
In the fallout following the protests, Ms Deeming, Ms Jones and Ms Keen alleged Mr Pesutto defamed them by suggesting they were tied to far-right extremist groups and Nazi ideologies.
Ms Keen and Ms Jones engaged Ms Deves and her firm, Alexander Rashidi Lawyers, to act in separate cases filed in the Federal Court in the second half of last year. Ms Deves briefed Ms Nolan for the case.
Ms Deeming’s matter proceeded to trial, and judgment is due to be handed down by judge David O’Callaghan on Thursday.
Ms Jones’ and Ms Keen’s matters were settled in May after the two women signed deeds of settlement and release that required Mr Pesutto to issue a statement describing them as “passionate women’s rights activists with long histories of advocacy in Australia and internationally”.
It also stated Mr Pesutto must apologise for “any hurt, distress or harm” that occurred as a result of his comments. He issued the statement on his website, where it remained for 60 days.
Both deeds included clauses stating they embodied “the entire agreement” between the parties, and saying there was “no obligation” for a “monetary sum” to be paid by Mr Pesutto to Ms Jones or Ms Keen under the deed.
But emails obtained by The Australian and Sky News Australia show the $50,000 was transferred by Mr Boffa to the Alexander Rashidi Lawyers trust in May.
In an email to Mr Boffa on May 15, in which Mr Pesutto’s legal team was copied, Ms Deves requested the payment be sent.
“Further to your conversation with Bridie Nolan and in accordance with that discussion, under the cover of strictly confidential and not for publication, we provide you with the payment details for our trust account for the agreed reasonable costs in the amount of $50,000,” she wrote.
“Please reply by return email once the funds have been paid into our trust account so we can exchange counterparts of the executed deeds.”
Mr Pesutto’s lawyer, Peter Bartlett, on May 16 confirmed payment had been made, and trust account receipts show the money was received by the following day.
In an email later that day, Ms Nolan requested receipt of payment because the $50,000 was “not provided in the deed, and the contractual basis was always just our emails”.
On May 17, Mr Pesutto told reporters he paid legal costs as part of the settlement, but downplayed the sum as a “small contribution” and said he had not paid damages.
“In the interests of the parties, I won’t be going into (how much was paid) but I did make a contribution to costs,” he said at the time. “But that is normal.”
Mr Pesutto told The Australian and Sky News Australia the matter had concluded, and “all appropriate disclosures have been made”.
An Alexander Rashidi Lawyers representative sent Ms Jones and Ms Keen separate invoices on June 30.
Ms Jones’s invoice was for $12,470.83 and Ms Keen’s for $37,529.17 totalling exactly $50,000.
Ms Jones and Ms Keen claim they were unaware of the full details of the $50,000 payment and why it was not included in their deeds of settlement.
Both have asked the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner to review the payments, claiming they did not receive a “clear answer” from Ms Deves as to why the payment was not included in the deed.
It is understood Ms Deves believes the women were aware of the arrangement and that the firm’s costs agreement clearly explained the basis for the payments.
Ms Keen confirmed to The Australian and Sky News Australia she “probably” assumed Mr Pesutto was paying her legal fees, although she said she had “no idea” about the separate $50,000 payment.
“I assumed if a man says complete lies and then we don’t take it to court … I think I probably assumed he did pay costs,” she said.
The Australian and Sky News Australia are not suggesting any impropriety or wrongdoing, just that the commissioner has been asked to review the arrangement.
Ms Jones and Ms Keen questioned the payment in emails to Ms Deves in October, requesting correspondence in relation to the separate pay agreement, and details on who paid their legal costs.
Ms Deves replied citing letters of engagement, which she said allowed the lawyers to access money transferred into a trust by a third party.
“On 30 June, 2024, Mr Craig Bartlett of our office sent you an email with a copy of our invoice which included Ms Nolan’s fees,” Ms Deves responded to an email from Ms Jones.
“Pursuant to clause 9.4 of our standard terms of engagement, we held your authority to draw on monies held in our trust account on your behalf to pay our costs and disbursements at any time after we issued you with our invoice.”
Ms Deves sent a very similar response to questions from Ms Keen.
In the email to Ms Jones, she attached correspondence she and Ms Nolan had with Mr Pesutto’s lawyers and Mr Boffa relating to the $50,000 payment.
She told Ms Keen the funds came from Mr Boffa and were “apportioned between your matter and Ms Angela Jones’s matter”.
“Pursuant to clause 9.2 of our standard terms of engagement, we held your authority to receive monies into our trust account from Mr Boffa in connection with your matter in which you engaged us,” she said.
Ms Nolan, Ms Deves and Mr Boffa did not wish to comment. Mr Rashidi did not respond to a request for comment.
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