EX-EMPLOYEE: I WON’T BE BULLIED
A FORMER employee of franchise giant Ultra Tune being sued by its owner — in a bid to stop secret recordings becoming public — says he won’t be “bullied” by his old boss.
Gold Coast-based Ultra Tune roadside assist and car repair mogul Sean Buckley’s legal team has filed a Supreme Court writ against ex-staffer Anthony Swords ordering he retrieve and destroy the recordings. It also accuses him of sending them to others, including franchisees.
The writ and statement of claim, released by the court, also includes Mr Buckley’s bikini model and nurse ex Jennifer Cole, who made the phone recordings without his knowledge.
Ms Cole, who has a twoyear-old child to Mr Buckley, has previously said she recorded some interactions with him late in their relationship due to things happening that she wanted proof of as “no one is going to believe me”.
A legal representative for Mr Buckley has said he “doesn’t fear anything” on the recordings.
Mr Swords said on Wednesday it seemed a contradiction for Mr Buckley to have nothing to “fear” but go to the Supreme Court to have recordings destroyed and file for damages.
Mr Swords — formerly boss of debt collection agency Gatto Corp operating under the surname of underworld identity turned businessman Mick Gatto — said: “I won’t be bullied. I will be defending the matter.
“I’m standing up for his de facto partner.
“It seems a contradiction to last week’s response from his lawyer that there was nothing to fear on the tapes,” Mr Swords said.
In response, a legal representative for Mr Buckley said: “Because the tapes were made illegally, there are a lot of personal things on there.
“He doesn’t want his personal life with his exgirlfriend sprayed all around Melbourne — without even thinking about what is on there.
“She’s done it illegally, passed it on to this guy, Mr Swords, and now Mr Buckley is getting calls about his love making, domestic fights and god knows what.”
The legal representative said it was really an “employment dispute” after Mr Swords resigned and was paid entitlements.
“I don’t know why they have fallen out so badly. It’s a simple employment dispute but involves a high net worth bloke in Sean, who is a bit controversial, and Anthony, who is a known debt collector — Sean should not have employed him.”
The Ultra Tune Australia statement of claim alleges the actions of Ms Cole and Mr Swords regarding the recordings have caused “injury, loss and damage to Ultra Tune and/or Buckley”.
Ms Cole — who last week revealed she was subjected to a lie detector fidelity test when they were on the cusp of getting engaged last year — declined to comment on the court action, but in an interview with lads magazine FHM this week, she said: “Without a doubt, 2020 was literally the worst year of my life.”