Seven allegedly reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for drugs, prostitutes
The claims, aired by Ten but not yet tested in court, came as the Federal Court heard explosive allegations from Taylor Auerbach that Seven destroyed documents that should have been produced.
Seven covered the costs of prostitutes for Bruce Lehrmann, a round of golf, illicit drugs and a $361 steak as part of its efforts to secure exclusive interview rights, according to allegations contained in a bombshell affidavit.
The affidavit, signed by disgruntled former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach as part of Mr Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network 10, also claims the former Liberal staffer supplied Seven with several pieces of confidential information associated with his criminal rape trial.
Network 10 on Tuesday night successfully applied to have the defamation trial reopened, citing the the new material provided by Auerbach.
It now appears judgment in the defamation case will be delayed until early next week after judge Michael Lee accepted it would be necessary to hear evidence from Auerbach and subject him to cross-examination over his extraordinary allegations.
Auerbach claims Lehrmann provided documents to Spotlight
In a series of affidavits, Auerbach claims Mr Lehrmann supplied Seven with the AFP statement of facts from his criminal rape trial, along with text messages between Brittany Higgins, her ex-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 to,” Auerbach wrote in the affidavit.
“For example, I recall that the applicant emailed me a detailed chronology.”
Last June, Mr Lehrmann appeared in an interview on Spotlight, which contained material that had not been tendered in court. That included recordings of a five-hour preliminary meeting between Wilkinson, her producer Angus Llewellyn, Ms Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, as well as CCTV footage of Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins on the night of the alleged rape in Parliament House.
Mr Lehrmann has long denied being the leak who provided Spotlight with the confidential information.
Auerbach’s allegations include a claim Mr Lehrmann misled his legal team when telling it that he had not provided confidential documents to the Seven Network as part of an exclusive interview last year.
Auerbach also claims that the Seven Network provided Mr Lehrmann with access to a photocopying machine so that he could copy documents in his possession.
In the affidavit, Auerbach recalls having dinner with Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewelyn and Mr Lehrmann on March 14, 2023.
“During our meal, Mark said to the applicant ‘Do you have the documents from the criminal proceedings?’. The applicant (Mr Lehrmann) said ‘Yes I do.’,” Auerbach wrote in the affidavit. “Mark and I discussed what arrangements would have to be made for the applicant to gain access to Seven’s offices in Martin Place so he could copy his documents.”
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.”
“I viewed some of the documents that were being copied and could see that they were exhibits from the applicant’s criminal proceedings,” Auerbach’s affidavit reads. “I saw by way of example Ms Higgins’ text messages. While the applicant was copying the documents, we were seen by Seven newsreader Angela Cox. She said to me ‘Looks like you’ve got a big story coming.’”
Claims Lehrmann received more meals, accomodation from Seven
On November 28 Mr Lehrmann 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.
During the defamation trial, it was revealed Seven paid Mr Lehrmann’s rent for 12 months in exchange for the interview. But in the affidavit, Auerbach claims he has evidence in the form of photos and text messages of other expenses paid for Seven for Mr Lehrmann’s benefit.
He claims Seven handed Mr Lehrmann a series of previously undisclosed benefits in exchange for exclusive interview rights, including more than $10,000 in massages for Lehrmann and another man.
The perks also included a $401 round of golf in Tasmania, a $450 dinner at Spice Temple in the Sydney CBD and a $518 dinner at Potts Point institution, Franca.
A picture of a receipt attached to the affidavit from Chophouse Restaurant included $361 for a 1.9kg tomahawk steak and $48 worth of prawn toast, as well as other sides such as roasted carrots and potatoes.
Auerbach also claims Seven covered the costs of a meal between himself, Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn, Lehrmann and former Liberal Party staffer John Macgowan on December 18 in Bridport, Tasmania.
In the affidavit, Auerbach said Seven also reimbursed Mr Lehrmann for the cost of a visit to a brothel and drugs in January 2023, however said he no longer had copies of the invoice.
“I recall that monies paid by the applicant for illicit drugs and prostitutes that evening at the Meriton and the following evening at a brothel in Surry Hills were reimbursed to the applicant by Seven through ‘per diems’ via invoice emailed to Ms Louise Aquilina, Spotlight unit manager, in the days after the applicant’s departure from Sydney in early January,” the affidavit reads.
”I no longer have a copy of this invoice.”
Seven also provided Mr Lehrmann with accommodation at a Randwick house which was leased in Auerbach’s name, in addition to the 12 months of previously disclosed rent.
Auerbach said he had receipts for accommodation for Lehrmann at the Randwick house from March 3 to 24 worth more than $11,000.
In an email attached to the affidavit, written to a Seven producer, Mr Lehrmann described the Randwick accomodation as being in “a good spot, and good value for 3 weeks.”
“Give me a bell mate if you need, the plan then was to catch up Saturday arvo all of us....,” Mr Lehrmann wrote.
Auerbach’s claims are yet to be tested in court, but he is due to face cross-examination on Thursday afternoon.
Auerbach was brought into the defamation saga after reports emerged that an unnamed Seven producer – later revealed to be him – spent $2940 on Thai massages for himself and Mr Lehrmann, and paid for them with a corporate credit card in November 2022.
At the time, the Spotlight team were attempting to woo Mr Lehrmann into the tell-all interview.
The Australian has previously revealed Auerbach told senior executives he was in a “drunken daze” when he booked the late-night services, admitting they “had nothing to do with work”.
He was not sacked when he disclosed the credit case misuse, but when his contract with the network expired the following year, it was not renewed.
It prompted Mr Lehrmann to issue a statement, describing the allegation as “an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer”. Auerbach in turn threatened to sue Mr Lehrmann for defamation over that statement.
The golf video
On Tuesday Auerbach flew back to Australia from New Zealand, in anticipation of being called to give evidence. Questions have been raised about his recent conduct, including smashing the golf clubs of former colleague Steve Jackson and posting a video of the incident online.
The Australian has obtained an extraordinary video Auerbach recorded of himself smashing golf clubs belonging to Jackson. Auerbach posted the video on social media accompanied by a caption reading “Merry Christmas, sue me” with a laughing emoji. He left the post up for less than a week before deleting it.
Auerbach and Jackson had a bitter falling-out and Auerbach is known to have backgrounded media outlets about Jackson, who had been hired as head of public affairs for the NSW Police Force.
Although he was not involved in any impropriety, Jackson’s appointment was cancelled last week by Police Commissioner Karen Webb in the wake of damaging headlines over the allegations.
As to the newly revealed alleged payments to Mr Lehrmann, the extra rent was only about $12,000, compared with the $100,000 already made public, Mr Richardson said.
Lehrmann’s counsel rejects Auerbach evidence as ‘trivial’
Mr Lerhmann’s counsel Matthew Richardson SC on Tuesday rejected much of the alleged new evidence as “trivial” and questioned whether Auerbach was suffering from a psychiatric condition, suggesting the former producer himself had claimed a “psychiatric injury” caused by his separation from Seven.
Mr Richardson described as “bizarre” Auerbach’s recent conduct, which had included leaking information against his former colleagues and calling a two-minute press conference at which he refused to answer questions.
The trial continues
Auerbach will be required to appear at 2.15pm on Thursday so that he can be cross-examined by Mr Richardson. Auerbach will be subpoenaed to produce all relevant documents including any that relate to allegation of misuse of funds by him while employed by the Seven Network.
The Seven Network will also have to appear in response to subpoenas on Thursday, to provide all relevant documents.
The court will now sit on Thursday and Friday, so Justice Lee can consider over the weekend whether the new allegations materially affect his verdict.
Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC told the court on Tuesday that only 17 pages of more than 2000 pages of Ms Higgins’ text messages had been introduced into evidence during Mr Lehrmann’s criminal trial, but many others had been given to the Spotlight program by Mr Lehrmann.
Ten and Wilkinson had issued a subpoena on Seven for all communications between the network and Mr Lehrmann but the court had been told there was nothing to produce, Dr Collins said.
During the defamation trial Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers said their client had at all times complied with his obligations under a rule known as the Harman undertaking, which forbids use of information or exhibits obtained in court proceedings for any other purpose.
“Your allegation is a serious allegation and we are unaware of any basis for you to make that allegation,” Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers had responded at the time, accusing Ten and Wilkinson of “an improper and unjustifiable allegation”.
Dr Collins made clear there was no suggestion that Mr Richardson was aware of any false claim by Mr Lehrmann and that he was only acting on instructions from Mr Lehrmann.
Justice Lee gave notice to Mr Richardson that he intended to ask him at some point whether he wished to “apprise the court” of any change in the position that was represented to the court earlier but inferred from his objections to the respondents’ application that his instructions had not changed.
Dr Collins submitted that the new evidence did not just go to Mr Lehrmann’s credit but demonstrated an abuse of process by the former Liberal staffer.
Mr Lehrmann had chosen to go on national television talking about “lighting fires” but had told “a series of falsehoods” to a national audience, including impugning Lauren Gain, a witness at the criminal trial, Dr Collins said.
Mr Lehrmann had provided 2300-odd pages of “intimate, private messages” between Ms Higgins and former boyfriend Ben Dillaway “no doubt in the hope that they would be broadcast and disseminated to her embarrassment”.
“All of this done in the immediate lead-up to a defamation trial before you can only have been calculated to put pressure on witnesses and parties – it is in our submission, the definition of an abuse of process,” Dr Collins said.
It wasn’t just provision of text messages and recordings, Dr Collins told the court. The payment records provided by Auerbach showed benefits to Mr Lehrmann that had not been revealed to the court.
Mr Richardson said the allegations were akin to putting “lipstick on a pig”, to which Justice Lee replied that it was “a bit more than that” and suggested that Mr Lehrmann had not been “playing with a straight bat in answering questions” while in the witness box.
A Seven spokesperson said the network strongly rejects “the false and misleading claims relating to the broadcast of material in the Spotlight program.”
“Seven has never revealed its source or sources and has no intention of doing so. Seven notes Mr Lehrmann’s court testimony last year that he was not the source,” the spokesperson said.
“Furthermore, Seven did not condone or authorise the alleged payments to Mr Lehrmann referred to in the affidavits. As has been previously reported, the person involved admitted to the misuse of a Seven corporate card and all unauthorised expenses were immediately reimbursed. Seven notes that these proceedings remain before the court.”
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